Monday, February 20, 2006

Failed to summit

Had my first failed attempt at a peak due to trail conditions. (I am not counting the time Howie ran away on me on Kaaterskill High Peak.)
Howie and I set out from Mink Hollow road to climb Plateau mountain in the Catskills. The first three miles were along an old eroded road. We reached the lean-to in the notch and then started the real climb. There was not a lot of snow, but it was icy. Caught up to a couple with a dog who were also on the way up. They had yak trax (they are like snow chains for your boots). Continued on and it was getting steeper and slippier.
A woman coming down with crampons (those sharp pointy things that attach to your boots), said it was "gnarly" further up. (Who uses the word gnarly anymore?). I got to about elevation 3250 (600 vertical feet shy of the summit), and decided to call it quits. I could of made it by going off trail, using trees to pull myself up, crawling, etc. But, it wasn't much fun at that point.
Started back down and caught back up to the couple with a dog. They had decided to turn around also and said the woman with the crampons didn't make it either. Oh well. On the bright side, it was a nice sunny day.

Round-trip Distance: 6.5 mi
Elevation Change: 1750 ft












Mink Hollow lean-to

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Winded

Howie and I went for a hike in the northern Catskills. We climbed Windham High Peak from the end of Big Hollow Road. There was only a dusting of snow on the trail and a few icy spots along the way. The weather was mostly cloudy with an occaisonal snow flurry. Not a picture perfect day, but better than a day at the office. Our trek this day took about 4 1/2 hours.

Summit Elevation: Windham 3524 ft
Round-trip Distance: 7.5 mi
Elevation Change: 1970 ft











View of Windham summit from point along trail












Howie with Blackhead range in background