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Dedicated to Skyclimber and Mike1889 who told me so...! 
After assembling the team via the forums and dozens of e-mails all seven of us made it to the Upper Works trailhead at 8:00 am Dec. 29. It took 45 mins. to get under way and we chewed up the 4.5 miles to Flowed Lands in pretty short order although we lost one of our members who, not feeling right, turned around after 1 ½ miles. We stopped at the first LT for a snack and then crossed Flowed Lands with only a little trepidation regarding the ice thickness. We heard a few booms but no cracking sounds. Once on the trail up the Opalescent we all started to feel our heavy winter packs and the pace slowed considerably during the 500-foot elevation gain over 1 ½ miles. I was starting to regret the 5 previous days of intense hockey games I’d been playing…
Once at the LT we had to change over to day hiking mode, make more water and eat a bit. That sucked up close to an hour and our initial plan of doing Grey and Skylite was quickly jettisoned in favour of Redfield which had a freshly broken trail up it.
It was close to 2:30 when we began the ascent and we topped out at about 4:15. I was totally beat climbing that mountain. I thought I was in pretty good shape but between the hockey, getting up at 4:00 that morning and the 7 miles/1500 feet elevation gain hike to the LT with heavy winter packs I really struggled to the top. After every minute of hiking I would stop and lean on my poles for about 20 secs. before continuing upwards. I was completely soaked with sweat. Finally, I got to the top where my 16-year-old son had been lounging in his down coat for 20 minutes after scampering up ahead of the rest of us old guys. There were no views and with the heavily overcast skies it was nearly dark. Even though I had dry gear in my pack I had no desire or energy to go to all the trouble of removing my pack and my clothing so I put on my hat and my headlamp and headed down, snowshoe skiing the steeper pitches. Dominic was long gone and was going to get some soup started, the others were a few minutes behind and I was nice and warm again so I slowed right down and enjoyed the experience. Off to the right was an unnamed mountain with beautiful ice covered cliffs that seemed to be glowing in the dying light and Uphill Brook was a soft white curving ribbon.
Back at the LT Dominic had gotten water and was lighting the stove while I peeled off my base layer shirt that must have weighed a half pound. I hung it on a nail knowing it would be iron hard in moments and that I’d be carrying all that sweat out with me. For some reason I was feeling a little nauseous but I put that down to the fatigue and ate a bowl of soup. Then I started to feel really lousy and totally lost my appetite. I crawled into my bag with a major gut ache and listened to the others go through the evening meal ritual. I didn’t participate in the joking and bantering that I normally revel in. Someone asked me how I was doing and when I said I had a bad stomach it got real quiet for a few moments while this bit of news sunk in. At six everyone was in their bags and I was curled in a ball holding my stomach. From 6 until one am. I was back and forth from my bag to the outhouse completely emptying my digestive tract from both ends of all its contents. On a couple of occasions I didn’t make it that far. This was by far the most miserable night of my entire life. I kept wondering how I would have made it through the night if it had been 20 or 30 below. (It was about +15) The cramps and stabbing pains did not let up one bit and I was becoming very worried. What if I was even worse tomorrow? How was I going to get out to the car? Was this going to wreck the trip for everyone else? Etc. etc. I finally slept until 4 when a pine martin made a ruckus trying to open a bear canister. Doug chased it away and now everyone was awake.
It was a beautiful moonlit morning with no clouds. Normally I would have sprung out of my bag and started making water and getting excited about the views from Skylite but I knew I was going nowhere but down today. My body had absorbed no nourishment since yesterday’s breakfast and I was totally dehydrated and feeling like ****. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind the extra sack time and I dozed off and on for the next 4 hours. By eight I was feeling almost human having gradually and tentatively rehydrated. The trip back was long and arduous between the stomach cramps, the weakness, fatigue etc. but I couldn’t help noticing what a gorgeous day it was and getting glimpses of Colden, Algonquin, Iroquois and a few others. Crossing Flowed Lands in brilliant sunshine was simply…brilliant! The car was a particularly welcome sight today.
One thing I noticed on this trip. The people we met who were camping were not peakbagging. Conversely, the people we met who were peakbagging were not camping. All of us were novice winter peakbaggers and I think we underestimated the effort involved in hauling winter packs not to mention the logistics and time consuming nature of camping out with no fire or heat source. On the hike out we compared pros and cons of the long day trip vs. the overnight at great length. The final consensus was that the best way to winter peakbag would be to drive to near the trailhead the night before, stay at a motel and get a very early pre-dawn start.
The best part of this trip was the company of an excellent bunch of guys half of who are new hiking friends! Thanks guys!
After assembling the team via the forums and dozens of e-mails all seven of us made it to the Upper Works trailhead at 8:00 am Dec. 29. It took 45 mins. to get under way and we chewed up the 4.5 miles to Flowed Lands in pretty short order although we lost one of our members who, not feeling right, turned around after 1 ½ miles. We stopped at the first LT for a snack and then crossed Flowed Lands with only a little trepidation regarding the ice thickness. We heard a few booms but no cracking sounds. Once on the trail up the Opalescent we all started to feel our heavy winter packs and the pace slowed considerably during the 500-foot elevation gain over 1 ½ miles. I was starting to regret the 5 previous days of intense hockey games I’d been playing…
Once at the LT we had to change over to day hiking mode, make more water and eat a bit. That sucked up close to an hour and our initial plan of doing Grey and Skylite was quickly jettisoned in favour of Redfield which had a freshly broken trail up it.
It was close to 2:30 when we began the ascent and we topped out at about 4:15. I was totally beat climbing that mountain. I thought I was in pretty good shape but between the hockey, getting up at 4:00 that morning and the 7 miles/1500 feet elevation gain hike to the LT with heavy winter packs I really struggled to the top. After every minute of hiking I would stop and lean on my poles for about 20 secs. before continuing upwards. I was completely soaked with sweat. Finally, I got to the top where my 16-year-old son had been lounging in his down coat for 20 minutes after scampering up ahead of the rest of us old guys. There were no views and with the heavily overcast skies it was nearly dark. Even though I had dry gear in my pack I had no desire or energy to go to all the trouble of removing my pack and my clothing so I put on my hat and my headlamp and headed down, snowshoe skiing the steeper pitches. Dominic was long gone and was going to get some soup started, the others were a few minutes behind and I was nice and warm again so I slowed right down and enjoyed the experience. Off to the right was an unnamed mountain with beautiful ice covered cliffs that seemed to be glowing in the dying light and Uphill Brook was a soft white curving ribbon.
Back at the LT Dominic had gotten water and was lighting the stove while I peeled off my base layer shirt that must have weighed a half pound. I hung it on a nail knowing it would be iron hard in moments and that I’d be carrying all that sweat out with me. For some reason I was feeling a little nauseous but I put that down to the fatigue and ate a bowl of soup. Then I started to feel really lousy and totally lost my appetite. I crawled into my bag with a major gut ache and listened to the others go through the evening meal ritual. I didn’t participate in the joking and bantering that I normally revel in. Someone asked me how I was doing and when I said I had a bad stomach it got real quiet for a few moments while this bit of news sunk in. At six everyone was in their bags and I was curled in a ball holding my stomach. From 6 until one am. I was back and forth from my bag to the outhouse completely emptying my digestive tract from both ends of all its contents. On a couple of occasions I didn’t make it that far. This was by far the most miserable night of my entire life. I kept wondering how I would have made it through the night if it had been 20 or 30 below. (It was about +15) The cramps and stabbing pains did not let up one bit and I was becoming very worried. What if I was even worse tomorrow? How was I going to get out to the car? Was this going to wreck the trip for everyone else? Etc. etc. I finally slept until 4 when a pine martin made a ruckus trying to open a bear canister. Doug chased it away and now everyone was awake.
It was a beautiful moonlit morning with no clouds. Normally I would have sprung out of my bag and started making water and getting excited about the views from Skylite but I knew I was going nowhere but down today. My body had absorbed no nourishment since yesterday’s breakfast and I was totally dehydrated and feeling like ****. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind the extra sack time and I dozed off and on for the next 4 hours. By eight I was feeling almost human having gradually and tentatively rehydrated. The trip back was long and arduous between the stomach cramps, the weakness, fatigue etc. but I couldn’t help noticing what a gorgeous day it was and getting glimpses of Colden, Algonquin, Iroquois and a few others. Crossing Flowed Lands in brilliant sunshine was simply…brilliant! The car was a particularly welcome sight today.
One thing I noticed on this trip. The people we met who were camping were not peakbagging. Conversely, the people we met who were peakbagging were not camping. All of us were novice winter peakbaggers and I think we underestimated the effort involved in hauling winter packs not to mention the logistics and time consuming nature of camping out with no fire or heat source. On the hike out we compared pros and cons of the long day trip vs. the overnight at great length. The final consensus was that the best way to winter peakbag would be to drive to near the trailhead the night before, stay at a motel and get a very early pre-dawn start.
The best part of this trip was the company of an excellent bunch of guys half of who are new hiking friends! Thanks guys!
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