Jennings Peak in the Sandwich Range (NH)

3-7-10. Grand views of Mt. Washington and the Tripyramids greeted us when Sheeba and I summited Jennings Peak in NH's Sandwich Range. We could even see Wildcat Mountain in the distance.

It was a great day trip, and the weather couldn't have been better. 40s on the way up and 38 at the top -- with no wind!

The trail was fairly packed down, so we barebooted it most of the way up, only donning snowshoes near the trail junction with Sandwich Mountain Trail. The last stretch to the peak is really really steep!

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch before heading down. I glissaded down most of the steep upper part! Glissading is the usually voluntary act of descending a steep slope of snow. You simply sit down and slide! I admit that sometimes my glissading was involuntary -- the result of a slip and fall where it seemed sensible to continue down that way. Regardless, it's quite an effective alternative to plunge or side-stepping and also cuts down on descent time. More importantly, it's FUN! Fills you with glee.

7 miles, 2,100' elevation gain (3-1/2 hours up; 2-1/4 hrs down)
Summit: Jennings Peak (3,440' high)
Route: Drakes Brook Trail both ways (another hiker warned that the alternate route up, using the Sandwich Mtn Trail and going over Noon Peak, is "brutally steep")

The next U2? Silversun Pickups

Surprisingly, nearly every seat in the massive TD Garden was full for Silversun Pickups, the warm-up band for headliner Muse on Saturday 3-6-10.

They only played for 45 minutes, but their ending salvo of two of their most popular songs -- Panic Switch and Lazy Eye -- had the audience on their feet.

IMHO, this could be the next U2.

Muse - live in Boston

What a fantastic show! Energetic. Extravagant. Exciting. Their music is, to me, a compelling blend of several music genres. I hear Depeche Mode, Queen, Nirvana, even System of a Down. Hearing Matthew Bellamy's sometimes falsetto voice in concert was thrilling.

They delighted the audience by dropping huge balls that were designed to look like eyeballs. After a few bounces around, they popped, spreading red confetti everywhere.

I had spectacular seats in the sixth row, right beside the stage!

"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!