The trip was advertised as the usual 3 hours up, 2 hours down, and perhaps another hour thrashing lost in the woods (since that has happened on many winter trips). This time, we did not get lost, and the total trip took about 4.5 hours up and down. About a year ago someone ‘enhanced’ the white blazes with ugly, day-glow orange blazes. It appears that they have been reinforced this year, to make them even larger. I still think they are totally inappropriate – but they are garish and visible in winter – so we did not get lost.

The weather was cold, about 20 degrees at the start, but sunny after an overnight 1-2” snowfall. There had probably been no snow on the ground before that snow, so the trail was mostly a light snow cover on top of ice. Snowshoes were not needed, and no one even carried them. Some put on microspikes for the trip up, and everyone was using some sort of foot-gripper wear for the trip down. We made it up in a little over two hours, and lounged at the top in the sun for almost half-hour before heading down. We had to take it carefully, but there were no incidents. It was a very good hike with a good group.

Participants – Peter Cottrell, Chuck Bond, Judy Bond, Mary Keenan, Scott Springer, Barb Zimmerman, Kim, David Hathaway, Phil Hazen, Leader: Richard Larsen