"Here, have a piece of fruit" - Paradise Lost

After seeing Paradise Lost at the ART last week, I felt like I did after reading Tom Clancy's Bonfire of the Vanities -- grateful for my wonderful life. Because, indeed, I am blessed by so many things -- health, friends, family, work. Folks in the Depression had so little. Their lives, at least as depicted by Clifford Odets, were filled with sadness, hardship and unspeakable tragedy. The same was true for the Bonfire of the Vanities' main character, the "master of the universe".

The play started out slowly, but built up speed and deep meaning in acts two and three. In act one, Clara Gordon was generous: "Here, have a piece of fruit" she kept offering her family and guests. In act three, it was her husband, Leo, who was the generous one, actually trying to give away large sums of money to the homeless. May we all be so kind, thoughtful and generous to those in need around us.

Mt. Crawford (NH) winter hike

Feb. 27, 2010. I joined members of the AMC Boston Chapter's "Forty Plus" group to do a winter hike of Mt. Crawford. Nearly a foot of wet snow had fallen over night so snowshoes were essential. Ron "the machine" Correia blazed the trail most of the way, for which most of us were grateful!

This hike was perhaps the most difficult winter hike I've undertaken: Not only did we have to break trail, but we had to find the trail. We had several obstacles -- snow-laden branches and entire trees on the trail -- to overcome on the way to the summit. (I wish I'd gotten a photo of us crawling underneath those heavy snow-laden limbs!) Wet snow fell on us most of the time.

The 3-1/2 hour steep, steady uphill climb in snowshoes left my left Achilles tendon aching. I'll have to look into snowshoes with televators, which several mountaineers said really helps.

The summit has lots of open ledges, but, alas, there were no views due to the clouds and snow. It was reasonably comfortable with temps in the low 30s and low wind. (Although we don't look too comfortable in the photo!) The snow continued throughout our rapid descent. I was surprised to find at the end of the hike that all of my upper body layers were fairly wet despite my shell.

This was a physically exhausting hike for me. Must have been the extra weight of the snowshoes for the duration of the ascent. I went to bed early after a nice hot bath!

Note to self: I prefer hiking in dry, cold conditions (even 0 - 10 degrees) over temps in the 30s with (wet) snow falling!

5.8 miles, 2,119' elevation gain (3-1/2 hours up; 1-1/2 hrs down)
Summit: Mt. Crawford (3,119' high)
Route: Davis Path

Introducing Glynis to Winter Hiking

Feb. 20-21, 2010. How wonderful to introduce a good friend to the wonder and beauty of winter hiking and snowshoeing! Being Glynis' first time, we rented snowshoes for her at the Jackson XC area in Jackson, NH. I can't believe they gave her MSR Denali's -- top-of-the-line for mountaineering! The snow -- what little there was -- was slushy, with puddles of water everywhere. The North Conway valley is really suffering without much snow. We managed to do almost 3 hours of walking despite the less-than-ideal conditions.

On Sunday, after a nice dinner at Black Cap Grille and a good night's sleep at Wildflowers Inn on Saturday night, we drove to the Crawford Notch area and enjoyed a lovely snowshoe up to the summit of Mt. Willard. It was flurrying a bit when we were at the top, and views were limited. But so what? It was Glynis' first winter hike up a mountain! She enjoyed it and we're both looking forward to the next time.

2.8 miles, 900' elevation gain (2-1/2 hours)
Summit: Mt. Willard (2,800' high)
Route: Mt. Willard Trail

Snowshoeing at Weston Ski Track with Morgaine

I snowshoed with Morgaine at the Weston Ski Track on Valentine's Day. It's so close to Boston!

We had a nice time catching up, snowshoeing, meeting up with Derek who was XC skiing, and having lunch.

We must do it again!

Sunrise in Crawford Notch, NH

It was a beautiful sunrise in the "notch" last Sunday. Crisp and cold, but clear.

The hike to the summit of Mt. Avalon was fairly easy and only took about an hour. Everyone seemed surprised when we reached it.

No birds or animal sightings, but some amazing views of snowy branches bracketed by beautiful blue sky. More photos here.

2.6 miles, 1,542' elevation gain (2 hours)
Summit: Mt. Avalon (3,442' high)
Route: Avalon Trail

Mt. Jackson - The joy is not just climbing to the summit!

A group of us from the AMC Winter Hiking program hiked up Mt. Jackson last Saturday. It was a truly memorable experience. And the joy was not just climbing to the summit. I partook in another sport -- glissading. In fact, I enjoyed the "sitting glissade" several times on the way down. What fun! Like skiing, but on your butt!

It took us 4 hours to get to the top, due to numerous gear issues; two in our group, Barbara Hough and Vera Kaufman, had defective snowshoes and had to bareboot it. But what an accomplishment! We all felt as high as the mountain (4,052 feet high) when we got to the top. We had successfully braved bitter cold (it was 0 degrees F. at trailhead and got down to at least -2 on the trail) and succeeded in hiking up our first 4,000 footer -- and a Presidential no less -- in winter!

It was incredibly beautiful. The tree branches were so laden with snow that we marveled that they didn't break.

Highlights included:

• my first experience glissading -- FUN!
• a gray jay joined us on the trail
  
• 2 chickadees singing in the trees
• 40-50mph gusts on the summit, fogged up sunglasses and a realization that one really does need goggles for winter hiking
• the hair around our faces turned to icicles, making us look like we had white hair!
• delicious snickerdoodle summit cookies
  
• always-smiling and helpful leaders Reji James and Michele Grzenda
  

5.6 miles, 2,150' elevation gain (6-1/2 hours - 4 up and 2-1/2 down)
Summit: Mt. Jackson (4,052' high)
Route: Webster-Jackson Trail

See more photos.

P.S. My car slid sideways into a snowbank the night before, as I was turning into the driveway of the Highland Center. Fortunately, I had a good shovel in my trunk and dug the car out; it took about 30 minutes. Vanessa Johnson had gone to get help; the rescue team of 5, including Reji James and Larry Tackiff, arrived just in time to help me out with a hefty push. An exciting way to begin the weekend at the Shapleigh Bunkhouse at AMC's Highland Center. :-)

Welch-Dickey's ice-covered ledges

During the drive north to NH, we kept wondering "Are we crazy?" It was 7am, snowing hard. Signs along Route 93 kept blinking "winter storm warning" and the roads were a mess. My hiking buddy Sheeba and I reasoned that if we really wanted to experience true winter hiking, what better time than now? Due to the poor driving conditions, we arrived at trailhead 15 min. late, but we beat the three AMC leaders by 15 min. nonetheless.

I, six winter hiking newbies and 3 experienced winter hiking leaders from the AMC started out at 10:30am amid flurries, temps of 20 degrees F. and predictions for high wind. I was a bit apprehensive: though I'd done winter hiking before, I had never used crampons. And Welch-Dickey's open ledges were sure to be covered in ice.

We returned to the parking lot at 4pm. It was challenging, but I felt good. Really good. I had conquered my apprehension, learning how to adjust and attach my crampons (they were initially too long to fit properly), and making it up and over numerous tricky spots covered in ice -- all without having to slide down on any descent.

Thanks to Alex Nedzel, Kevin McAllister and Sandy Green for sharing their experience and love of winter hiking with us! They were most helpful and generous with suggestions.

I definitely like winter hiking. But the jury is still out as to whether I am a fan of *serious* winter hiking involving crampons, ice axes and above-treeline exposure. I am doing AMC Boston Chapter's Crawford Notch program next weekend, as well as the above-treeline seminar, before I decide for certain...

4.4 miles, 1,800' elevation gain to two summits (~ 5-1/2 hours)
Summit: Mt. Welch (2,605') and Mt. Dickey (2,734')
Route: Welch-Dickey Loop