Couch, Panther, Santanoni, open for business

[Eric]

Broken trail to Couch, Panther, and Santanoni. As long as wind stays fairly calm and doesn't cause to much snow drift. The trail to TS was still somewhat visable from last week.
What a difference a week is in the High Peaks, weather wise. Well since last week Couch a lot of thought went into where we went wrong. Come to find out on the trail from TS it seems we were on the right track give or take a few feet here and there. I believe it was just very poor conditions that sent us all back and wise thinking, safty. Today Pierre, ReJean, Rik and myself met at about 7 am at Tahawus. The conditions seemed cold due to the wind. We could see off and on blue in the sky so we all had high hopes that we would be making the summits today. We all felt that if we could have some visability at TS we would be able to take a good compass line and start out to couch. By the time we reached TS the sun was out and the sky was blue. Very cautious as to not make any mistakes we brought along our GPS, that would be Rik. Rik did an awesome job with navigation today :bang: . There seemed to be little difficulties with getting to Couch since through out the walk over we could see the summit and had an idea as to where to go. It was just as long as it is in the summer time. I was pretty beat by the time we reached TS. Couch is a tough hike no matter how you look at it.
Back at TS Rik, ReJean, and Pierre headed for Santanoni and I headed to Panther, I can not comment on how thr trip to Santa went since I was not there. I broke trail to Panther and enjoyed some awesome views from where the Panther sign is, great views of Marcy, Skylight, Marshall, Beckhorn form side of Iroquios. By the time I left Panther the wind picked up a lot and I began to notice a changein weather, there were clouds moving over Santa. I got back to the car at about 4pm, relaxed, listen to satalite radio for a while turned the heat on and waited.
Awesome views today, well worth going back. 4x on Panther and I never had any views, today there were some and couldn't believe how great they were. A couple years ago on Couch in summer it was cloudy then, today the views towards Santanoni were just great. Overall awasome Day.

[pete_hickey]

There seemed to be little difficulties with getting to Couch since through out the walk over we could see the summit and had an idea as to where to go. Yep. That's how it was when I did it. A long walk, but no navigation tools needed. Spruce traps were annoying, though. Mostly in the first 3/4 mile. Did you have them?

[Eric]

I think the herd path was much easier to see than last week. You could definately see where some mistakes took place on our part last week where we should have turned off a small summit to the right. Again the sun was out and the sky was blue. Rik also did the primary trail work to this summit, navigating. I was very busy the night before watching Cops while Rik was studying the Map for Couch. I think when Rik posts about his trip to santanoni he will have plenty to say about Spruce traps. While Pierre and Rejean and Rik were heading to Santa I was enjoying the care free hike to Panther.
No real spruce trap problem on Couch, that I encountered anyway.

[Skyclimber]

Congrats! You must be close to finishing?

[Eric]

yup, one left for my winter round Skyclimber. I'll be finishing on Seward this monday if all plans out. Weather and all. I finished my first round on Seward and thats were I'll finish my second (winter round). Looking forward to it. I just hope I get some views from Seward. Last year in the Sewards I only was able to have views from Seymour and they were awesome, I actually blew up one of the photos from Seymour and hung it up on my wall. Im very excited and looking forward to heading back.

[Skyclimber]

I wish you the best of luck on Monday! Unfortunately you will have that "dreaded" road walk. Hope with the new snow this weekend that you don't have too rough of a time.

Seward is special to me too, as that's where I finished my Winter Round in 1994.

[Rik]

Friday's trip was great. Beautiful weather for the first half of the day. We stayed in the herd path more often than not to Couch. We didn't do quite as well going to Santanoni as we were in and out of the path often. We did find some spruce traps soon after losing the path the first time still heading down. Up higher the wind had packed the snow hard in spots and deep in other spots. Fun being on Couch for Eric to climb #45 and then Santanoni for Pierre to climb #45. Pierre was hoping to finish on Saddleback today. We followed our tracks back to TS with little visibility since the wind, snow, cold, had started. Back at TS I left to follow Eric's tracks up Panther where I was pelted with more wind, snow, and cold. Caught back up to Pierre and rejean near Bradley Pond. It got dark just before we reached the road so we walked the road in the dark.

[slamdog]

Great trip reports. I wish we had that weather last weekend with the whole group. Spoke to Ward yesterday and we're going to give the Santa's one more winter try 3/18. Hopefully we'll have some of the same clear skies that you enjoyed. Eric, I'll be looking for the Sewards TR. Enjoy Mondays hike!

[TFR]

Way to persevere!

[Willie]

As of March 6th, all three Santanonis remain open for busniess. Our party of four completed the triple crown in 13 hours.