LOCALadk Magazine

Spring 2018 LOCALadk Magazine 27 LOCALadk Mount Marcy Feb. 11. I had done the four Macintyre Range peaks on Februar y 9 and Henderson, Panther, and Couchsecraga on the 10th. Henderson re- quires a 0.37 mile bushwhack and ser ved as a test case for off-trail snow conditions. The snow was ver y deep and the trees were cov- ered in it and they showered us continuously. We were soaking wet in no time. When I checked the forecast that evening it was calling for temps in the 40s and rain. The plan had been to return to the Santanoni Range and do both "Big" and Little Santanonis. This plan was now looking like a recipe for miser y and hypothermia. One of the difficulties in coordinating with hiking partners is that some- times I change my plan the night before. Based on the forecast and the conditions we experienced on Henderson, I decided that was what was called for now. My partners were in a motel in Schroon Lake and we spoke on the phone. They had watched my Spot device and saw I had already switched plans and done Henderson-Panther- Couch first. Now, their map preparation and route study was out the window and they had an hour drive to Keene, where we met. Gray-Skylight-Marcy was sup- posed to be an "easy- out" but it turned out to be ver y hard. There was a layer of new snow over the packed trail and it was extremely sticky. It balled up miserably under our snowshoes and we had to stop and bang it off with our hiking poles ever y five to six steps or our feet weighed a ton and we risked twisting our ankles. My legs felt heav y as I plodded along slowly and contemplated the "Miser y Mile" up Feldspar Brook to Lake Tear. We went slowly and steadily and eventually made it. It was raining. We left our packs at the lake and made the round-trip in under an hour in spite of the horrible snow conditions. The summit forecast for Marcy predicted 40 mph winds from the SW, and rain. I chose to do the loop counter- clockwise so we'd have the wind at our backs going over Marcy. This meant having it in our faces for Skylight and we discussed our clothing strategy as we walked to Four Corners. We decided to keep our wet clothes for the short duration of exposure on Skylight. I put on dr y mitts (I had four pair of wool mitts and three pair of shell mitts) and a third hat over my two balaclavas and cinched my hood tight. The wind, mercifully, was moderate on Skylight except for at the summit itself. Visibility was ver y poor but we had left a clear trail in the crusty snow. The rain was freezing rain. My gps had been conking out lately and I had a replacement on order. I carried it in a zip-lock and thus far it was working properly. I also carried Tom's and it was working too. Marie-Josée had the Gaia app running on her iPhone. We felt ready for Marcy and at tree-line we stopped and swapped our sopping wet base layer shirts for dr y ones and put puff y jackets on under our soaked shells. I put on an- other pair of dr y mitts and noted that my pack was gaining weight as the day wore on. We broke tree-line and the wind slammed into us. The rain was horizontal and froze on our packs. We could just make out the next cairn and plodded upwards, keeping close together and checking up on each other's status. We stopped and ensured that our in- struments were working properly and I dialed a 60 degree magnet- ic bearing into my compass. The visibility was deteriorating as we climbed. It was an intense "present time consciousness" moment. We made the final hard left turn near the top and clambered onto the summit itself. The wind was fierce and we immediately dropped down to the calm lee where the plaque is. Whew! Now for the sketchy part: getting down the Van Hoevenberg Trail to treeline. We could see the first cairn but I had no confidence that we'd find our way using the cairns. Many were completely covered in ice and crusted snow. As a backup we had recorded our ascent tracks in our instruments and were ready to bail back down to Four Corners if we had to. The wind howled and it was difficult to communicate. There was almost no visibility and we mistook small spruce trees for cairns. However, by projecting the gps cursor along the trail, which was indicated on my gps screen, I could dial in new compass bear- ings ever y few minutes. We were "instrument flying" when we saw a reassuring paint blaze through the ice. Gradually I felt more and more at ease as I recognized the occasional landmark. I decided to go into a gully near tree-line and there I saw a set of ski tracks that stopped abruptly and turned back downhill. We were done with the Marcy cone! Now it was just a question of settling into a seven-mile pace back to the HPIC parking lot. Based on the snow conditions and the fatigue I was feeling I had anticipated the hike would take us 12 hours, but the total time came to 10h20m, which goes to show that slow and steady will always get you there. For a lot more of Project-100 go to his blog. w w w.project100singlewinter.wordpress MacIntyre Range

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