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It was an all out last call winter assault in the Dacks this weekend for me and my friend. Over 3 tuff days days we topped out Saddleback, Basin, Gothics, Armstrong, UWJ, LWJ and Big Slide. This trip was an absolute ADK Mountaineering fantasy because of the deep fresh snow & ice, dark skies and STRONG winds. We managed to get a taste of it all, slide climb up Chicken Coop, white out's, breaking snow on miles & miles of trail, bushwacking, night hiking and not seeing a single person on any mountain all weekend gave it a true Backcountry experience.
On Fri we set up a basecamp at a JBL lean-to and started things off on the Chicken Coop slide approach all the way up to the Saddleback Cliffs & summitted as a intense snowstorm was brewing. Went back down the cliffs and summitted Basin as the storm rolled in full force. We had to skip Haystack and headed back via the Shorey Short cut trail & Phelps under a night snowstorm.
On Sat we awoke to some deep fresh snow(12 inches at least) and headed off to Gothics Via the Orebed Brook trail, we met a group of 4 guys at the Orebed brook Lean-to who were going up to do SB. Once we passed them we didn't see another person until sunday. It snowed all day on Sat and we never saw a glimpse of sun. We went from Gothics-AS-UWJ-LWJ and returned again under nightfall by the WJ trail.
On Sunday mng we went up to Big Slide. Somebody hiked up before us and stopped at the view of the slide??? Why they didn't go up the .1 mile to the summit was a little puzzleing. As we're coming down BS the skies suddenly open up to bright sun for the first time in the last 3 days.
On Fri we set up a basecamp at a JBL lean-to and started things off on the Chicken Coop slide approach all the way up to the Saddleback Cliffs & summitted as a intense snowstorm was brewing. Went back down the cliffs and summitted Basin as the storm rolled in full force. We had to skip Haystack and headed back via the Shorey Short cut trail & Phelps under a night snowstorm.
On Sat we awoke to some deep fresh snow(12 inches at least) and headed off to Gothics Via the Orebed Brook trail, we met a group of 4 guys at the Orebed brook Lean-to who were going up to do SB. Once we passed them we didn't see another person until sunday. It snowed all day on Sat and we never saw a glimpse of sun. We went from Gothics-AS-UWJ-LWJ and returned again under nightfall by the WJ trail.
On Sunday mng we went up to Big Slide. Somebody hiked up before us and stopped at the view of the slide??? Why they didn't go up the .1 mile to the summit was a little puzzleing. As we're coming down BS the skies suddenly open up to bright sun for the first time in the last 3 days.
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