Max
New member
Kris (Little Bear) and I headed out from the Ritz-Crawford on Saturday to bag the Willey Range. We got on the trail shortly after 7:30 and luckily, one hiker had started about an hour before us so there was one set of tracks to help break the new snow. We made good time to the Mt. Tom col and ran into this other gentleman who was descending. We zipped up to the summit of Tom, took a few pictures in the blowing clouds and snow (no views) and returned to the A-Z trail. Now the fun began!
We broke the next mile of trail to the summit of Mt. Field. We had to push our way through waist deep drifts. Much of it was windblown and packed a bit so that kicking through it was more difficult. It was a laborious slog, taking nearly 2 hours to go that 1 mile! I was shattered at the summit of Field, and expressed doubt that we'd make Willey if the conditions continued. But we agreed to give it a shot and see what happened. Since we had a car spotted at Ethan Pond trail head, we figured the trip down from Willey could be the easiest part....if we could just get there! I took on a supply of Nutter Butters, and got my second wind. Off we went.
Kris broke trail down to the Field / Willey col and it was easier on this side. Still plenty of snow, but more powdery, and the going not quite as tough. About 1/2 way to Willey, and we turned around to find another hiker catching up to us! Wow, relief in the form of a man named Jeff. The 3 of us took turns pounding through the drifts to the summit of Willey. We had a brief moment of indecision when we thought we lost the trail, but we got on track and arrived at the Willey summit shortly before 3 PM. We met 2 other hikers who had ascended from the Ethan Pond side, so now the trail was entirely broken out. We ran, fell, slid our way down and reached the road in less than 2 hours. A bonus for Jeff was the fact that we could give him a ride back to the Ritz, so it worked out for us all. It was a 9 hour day, but Kris got 3 new winter peaks off her list and we had a memorable hike!
No one has been up via the Avalon summit, but the rest is now broken out for your hiking pleasure! :beer:
We broke the next mile of trail to the summit of Mt. Field. We had to push our way through waist deep drifts. Much of it was windblown and packed a bit so that kicking through it was more difficult. It was a laborious slog, taking nearly 2 hours to go that 1 mile! I was shattered at the summit of Field, and expressed doubt that we'd make Willey if the conditions continued. But we agreed to give it a shot and see what happened. Since we had a car spotted at Ethan Pond trail head, we figured the trip down from Willey could be the easiest part....if we could just get there! I took on a supply of Nutter Butters, and got my second wind. Off we went.
Kris broke trail down to the Field / Willey col and it was easier on this side. Still plenty of snow, but more powdery, and the going not quite as tough. About 1/2 way to Willey, and we turned around to find another hiker catching up to us! Wow, relief in the form of a man named Jeff. The 3 of us took turns pounding through the drifts to the summit of Willey. We had a brief moment of indecision when we thought we lost the trail, but we got on track and arrived at the Willey summit shortly before 3 PM. We met 2 other hikers who had ascended from the Ethan Pond side, so now the trail was entirely broken out. We ran, fell, slid our way down and reached the road in less than 2 hours. A bonus for Jeff was the fact that we could give him a ride back to the Ritz, so it worked out for us all. It was a 9 hour day, but Kris got 3 new winter peaks off her list and we had a memorable hike!
No one has been up via the Avalon summit, but the rest is now broken out for your hiking pleasure! :beer:
