Porter/Cascade and Noonmark 3/4 3/5

[billandjudy]

With this past weekend and next weekend as my last free weekends before my busy season hits Judy and I decide to make a fast run up to the ADK's. After working til 2AM Friday it was a quick 4 hours of sleep and hit the road at 8:00 figuring a 12:00 arrival at Cascade's trailhead. But with a lunch stop and a speeding ticket on the Northway we arrived at 12:30. All 3 lots were full and we squeezed in the last parking spot. It was snowing heavily w/ a good stiff wind blowing with temps in around 20. As the last people to sign in I knew we would see alot of traffic coming down. We stopped counting at 60 before reaching the Cascade/Porter sign. A lot of people said they had not reached the summit because of the wind. After seeing some of the gear being worn I was not surprised--everything from Penn State sweatshirts to jeans--no poles--no packs no hats!!! I could tell just by looking who had summited--We decided to do Porter first--we found deep fresh fluffy snow all the way over and passed 1 group 4 guys running back down. It was windy and snowing hard--no views of course but great wild conditions. As we headed back to cascade we passed a single guy who had just come from cascade and reported very strong winds. As we got to the summit rocks we took off the snowshoes and bare booted up. It was bare rock all the way. Very little ice and snow. The wind was howling and bitterly cold so we stayed a short while and headed back down. We did crampons becauce of the ice flows, made for an easier decent. We had seen several people struggling down w/ snowshoes. Judy butt slid several sections until a crampon stuck and she twisted a knee. She sucked it up, but that was it for sliding! On the way we could see the sky clearing in the west and by the time we were well towards Rt73 it was beautiful blue sky above--missed the views by 45 minutes! Pics http://community.webshots.com/album/548301611PInqIZ

On Sunday with a sore knee we decided to keep it simple and headed for Noonmark. It was beautiful--clear skies--no clouds--a great day to be out. we headed up the Stimson trail, barebooted until the first junction and then chose crampons. I'm glad we did--lots of ice on the way up especially the steep sections near the summit. For being a "little mountain" the climb was quite a workout. Lots of steeps and ice the whole way up. Passed 1 gentleman coming down. Spent some time on the summit in the sun and as we were getting ready to go a couple came up. We decided to do the loop heading down the Adler trail--snowshoes were the call as the snow was much deeper on that side--Lots of great buttsliding--w/ no mishaps--passed 1 group of 4 coming up from the Dix trail. When we got to the junction the trail back to Huberts was unbroken so we had 6-12 inches of light and fluffy to walk and slide through. A great day!
Pics http://community.webshots.com/album/548301968tMLmvw

[AntlerPerak]

B&J It sounds like conditions were far different on Cascade Saturday than they were over in Ticonderoga. Two of us climbed the small but very nice Mt Defiance. Great views almost no wind and clear skies. The trail was the toll road, blacktop all the way with zero snow coverage. So it was bear boots the entire distance. It looks like it would be an excellent ski trip if there was any snow. Good TR glad you had a safe trip.

[windsong781]

billandjudy,

Nice trip report and great pictures. Looking at some of your photos, I have to ask a question about winter hiking. How do you follow a trail when there is so much snow cover? I understand that on your hike last weekend that portions of the trail were well travelled, but at some point in time it appeared that it was just the two of you. And with snowy conditions, any tracks left by other hikers would be quickly covered over. I have never really done much winter hiking except at lower elevations on trails that are obvious and well traveled. Once you get into higher elevations, I would think that it gets a bit harder to discern where the trail is if the snow cover is fresh or deep. Obviously you would have to have good map and compass skills and I suppose a GPS unit wouldn't hurt.

I'm glad Sunday turned out to be a better day for all who ventured out. It was a great day to be out with less wind and milder temps. We went downhill skiing in Southern NH on Sunday (only my second time out this season following knee surgery). Like many of you who accomplish peak bagging in the winter, along with all of it's added challenges, it has been my goal this winter to tackle black diamonds on the slopes. Unfortunately, the blacks at Gunstock in NH are nothing to compare to say Whiteface or Jay in VT. But I skied all, and with ease. And there is nothing like a view from the top coupled with blue bird skies, and a challenging run to the base. I just wish that I had had a camera.

We're heading up to Jay Peak in VT tomorrow and may get some snowshoeing in while not skiing. It will be unseasonably warm this weekend, so the skiing may not be so good, but I'm sure the hiking will be great! The Jay Peak web site showed a great pic of someone doing a header into a spruce trap (tree well), with a warning to watch out for them in the glades. They received over two feet of snow last week. For anyone interested, here's a link to the cam shot's from Jay showing the skier in the spruce trap (second pic down). You'll have to cut and paste the link into your browser.

http://www.jaypeakresort.com/page.asp?intNodeID=16138&switchLang=true&sysStr=PARCH39:intViewID-3_intNbDisList-1_intNbByRow-1_intArticleID-5544;

Judy, I hope you have recovered from your twisted knee. A big "OUCH" goes out to you. I know the feeling all too well.

Windsong

[Kevin]

Windsong, I often find Fall with all the dead leaves covering the trail equally hard to following as a fresh snow covered trail in the winter. In that regard, it's about the same hiker's rules of navigation - look for evidence of a trail (a clearing ahead through the trees, branches broken off, etc). I've come to insections where I didn't know where "next" was (like heading up Big Slide a month ago). We poked around and picked up the trail. It helps if there's trail markers , although the problem we had was drifted fresh snow and no trail markers visible.

I've done a bit of winter hiking now, but mostly on well traveled trails - and that's on purpose. While I may have a number of miles under my belt, I still don't consider myself an experienced or advanced outdoorsman. Compared to a lot of my friends I'm a mountaineer, but really I'm still learning. Sticking to well traveled trails assures me some guidance in the form of markers, well established herd paths, landmarks, or evidence of prior hikers. There's always the turning around part too, which I'm not afraid to do if lost or tired.

My comfort level grows with each new hike and experience. I went into hiking head first and bumped it on many things. I've learned some prudence and maybe some humility along the way... at least I hope I have, for my sake. Too many times I've read stories of horror, and most of the time it involves complacent experienced hikers. On one hand there's the mathematics of the situation (experienced hikers hike more, and therefore increase their odds of injury/issues on the trail). On the other, there's an element of "old hat" that I've found myself engaged in from time to time. It only takes one wrong step brought on by the slightest bit of fatigue to ruin a day.

Enough of my ramblings .

[billandjudy]

Thanks Windsong--Most of the time trails are broken out by the time we get to them, although we had to break trail this past December on Giant. ADK trails seem to be pretty well marked. The toughest days are usually after a snow with some wind as trail markers are sometimes covered. Our toughest day was actually in the Catskills on Thanksgiving day on Balsam Lake Mt--lots of fresh snow and lots of bendover made finding the trail a bit tricky. Sometimes you just have to stop and take the time to stop and look at what's ahead--if you take your time you'll find it. Good luck w/ your knee! Happy skiing