Phelps 1/21/06 (still shivering)

[ADKatie]

For being such a rotten day to be hiking, there was a pretty good crowd out there in da Peaks so I guess there's something to be said for the love of the sport, eh? We slogged, we slipped, we dripped, we shivered, and yet, we conquered our various missions.

For our group, a frighteningly large crew departed from the Loj trailhead toward Marcy Dam, but it didn't take long at all for us to naturally split into smaller groups, heading in different directions, arriving at the Dam at intervals. As if we'd planned it that way...

I left MD undecided whether I'd bag Phelps or Tabletop, but held out until I arrived (soaked to the bone already) at the Phelps turnoff with Neil, and made the decision that Phelps was the mountain for me. Mavs and Dominic had left MD ahead of everyone else because they had ambitions of bagging both Phelps and Tabletop, so when Neil and I arrived at the Phelps turnoff, we figured on waiting for them to appear. Neil's destination was Tabletop with Dominic and Mavs. After some 10 or so minutes of waiting, Neil decided to go on ahead and I said I'd let the boys know he was on his way. We were getting more soaked by the minute. I felt like a sponge.

I hiked and I hiked. It felt like the longest 1.1 mile I'd EVER hiked! I gave in to the idea that Tim and Dom must have decided to bag TT first, because I was sure I'd have seen them by now. A big bunch of our group was somewhere down the trail behind me and onward I trudged. It seemed like I was minutes from the summit when I came upon Tim's and Dom's packs and snowshoes and was quite surprised to find they were still somewhere up there! Onward I trudged. Another 5 miles or so it must have been, when I heard voices ahead of me and realized here come the boys. WOW, it's been at least 40 minutes since Neil departed from the junction, can they catch him? I find out that Tim's had enough and is willing to go down to check on the rest of our group, then hike back up with them to join us back on the summit of Phelps. Dom continues on to TT to join Neil and the others.

I'm alone again, and upon a scary slab of ice that tells me it's time for the crampons. Up to this point, I'd been doing great in my new-ish YaxxTraxx on their maiden mountain voyage, but I knew that trail conditions like this were not what they were suited for, so I sat down in the rain and wet and switched the gear. Felt like THAT took forever, and by the time I was done I was hearing voices down the trail. Aha, the others are near!

I didn't wait, being soaked and chilled from the sit. So up I went, eventually being caught by Nick and Adam, followed soon by Tim, Ashley and Beth who found us sitting amongst some trees on the summit with some protection from the wind up there. We enjoyed a rapid snack, helped the kids get a bit better geared up for warmth as these were perfect conditions for hypothermia and a few of the kids were well on their way, then off we went!

We marched back down that mountain with purpose. Back at Marcy Dam before long (where I switched foot gear one last time) and then OUT. Along the way I was caught by Neil and Dominic JOGGING down the trail, and we all walked the rest of the way together.

About a mile from the parking lot the rain turned into snow... :shock:

[Mavs00]

Although Katie did a great job on her report, I'll add my perspective.

Once me and Dominic left MD, we made great time to the Phelps trail junction (21 minutes). It started raining and we stopped a minute for Dom to put a pack cover on. At this point, I was still wearing snowshoes hoping that the snow would get deep up high and Dominic was in crampons. We started up and it was quite the slog, most of the trail was a running creek and the only thing the snowshoes were doing was adding 2 lbs to every step I took. I was tiring real FAST. About 20 minutes up the trail (3400' or .6 miles from the summit), we (or I) needed a little norishment. I decided to switch to crampons and we also choose put some extra gear on and slack pack real quick to the summit. We droped the heavy packs and pretty much blasted up the final 700 feet in about 15 minutes, despite some real icy portions of trail. I felt immeasuably better, sans the waterlogged 20+ lb pack and snowshoes.

We arrived on the summit, soaked outwardly (but doing fine inside), to fierce winds of 20-25 MPH and sideways icepellets that stung our faces. We snapped a few shots and huddled briefly to decide what to do. We thought everyone was headed to T-top, so we made the decision to blast back down and head over that way to meet them there. I knew I'd have to slow the pace once we started more climbing, but I was feeling much better. It took us about 1:10 minutes from MD to the summit of Phelps, including our 10 minute stop. Not bad at all.

We headed down at a freefall pace and about 350' below the summit and below the real icy sections, we came across Kate. She told us the Kids, Diane and Prino were behind her a ways and headed up this way. Knowing what was ahead, we told her to suit up and put the crampons on. I prety much knew right then that T-top was pretty much out for me as I needed to stay on this mountain, with this group in these conditions. I told Katie I'd head back down to the kids and make sure everone got up and back safely. Leaving Kate, we continue to desend and rapidly came to Adam and Nick about 150 feet below Katie, they had the crampons on and other than being wet, were doing fine. Both had been on this route before and I told them to keep climbing to reach Katie. We contnued down and came across the others just above were we had dropped our packs. One look at the girls and I sent Dominic on towards T-top. I knew for sure I was headed back up the 700 feet or so to the summit with these guys.

Ash was in Crampons, but Beth did not have any (but I knew that Nick had an extra set in his bag above us). I took the Girls while Prino and Diane got more gear on. We did pretty well and I just pulled Beth up over the icy sections. It took about 40 minutes or so, but we finally made it to upper cone of the peak and were fast approaching the summit, me for the second time in about an hour and a half. Conditions were pretty much the same as before, except the rain had stopped and it may have been a few degrees colder.

We met Katie, Nick and Adam, wet and misurable all huddled up in a small clump of trees. Adam was getting pretty cold and shivery, so we got out a dry wool sweater from Ashley's pack and got him all set. We sent them ahead while I fitted the spare crampons to Beth's boots and we soon were following them down. We passed Diane and Prino near the top, but we needed to get the kids out of the winds and exposed areas pretty quick so we just kept going. Within 20 minutes, we were back into the trees and the kids were giggling and laughing again and having a ball. We were all quite soaked, but in the trees and out of the wind and in a better state.

Eventually we reached my big pack and snowshoes (right where my GPS said it would be). IN retrospect, I wondered if leaving my pack for so long was a good idea (not that I intended to), but ultimately I did not need it. My crucial stuff I already had taken out and put in my waist pack. Plus, the lesser burden of not having the heavy pack certainly helped allow me to basically go up and down the mountain twice with relatively little problem and with energy to devote to the kids. The only thing the pack had left was my food and drink and some emergeny dry clothing. In the end, it worked out fine, and I was always within a quick dash to it had I needed anything from it.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, except that is was rapidly getting colder as we passed MD. By the time we hit the cars in the loj, it was in the mid 20's and being wet, we started "losing heat in the core" real quick. Ultimately, a good trip, but certainly one that presented some challenges. That, and the kids added another winter summit, as did we.

[Neil]

Even though the weather was about as bad as it could possibly have been for a January hike it was a lot of fun. Hiking in to MD with a gaggle of giggling kids was a new experience. The atmosphere in the parking lot and sign-in booth was like nothing I've ever experienced in the High Peaks. Getting to know Diane and Pat as we hiked sweep and picked up the odd bit of clothing that fallen off a pack was pleasant as we sauntered along swapping stories. Between the Loj and MD there was no snow beside the trail and a 2 inch layer of slick ice on the trail. The first rain drops hit just as we arrived at the dam and I immediately put a cover on my pack and a shell on myself. Once the kids sorted out their gear and clothing and discussed hiking options ie, Phelps vs. Ttop vs. both our Ark Train pulled out of MD and headed up trail to the Phelps junction.
The rain intensified and never let up. The trail was a mess of running water, broken ice and gravel. I had no plans for doing Phelps and so I wore MSR's right from the Loj and carried no other foot gear. Once Pat and I left the Phelps junction it got REAL quiet allthough even as we crossed the bridge over phelps Brook I could swear I heard Ashley's voice...

Pat and I had the trail all to ourselves as we steadfastly made our way to the Ttop junction. It was Pat's first outing in a fair while and he was not the least bit impatient as I stopped often to fiddle with the useless radio on my GPS. At the junction I debated on dropping my pack for the 1.2 miles RT to the summit but it didn't seem like a good idea. It was 11:37 and I wrote that in the snow in case Tim and Dominic would see it. We figured they would have been summiting Phelps just as we left the Phelps junction so they would still be a ways behind us. We also figured there must be a gang of ours ahead of us on the mtn.

I had no routes or waypoints entered into my gps for what would be a straightforward hike. I only had the gps with me so as to test the radio out. But, at the last minute I had printed up wp's for the 2 trail junctions and summits. While waiting at the Phelps junction I had manually entered the Ttop junction into the unit just to verify it's accuracy and it was within 50 feet. Maybe it was the wet canopy but the satellite reception was pretty poor on Saturday so 50 feet seemed pretty good. Within minutes of the herd trail's beginning the snowshoe path split into two. Both seemed equally travelled upon. The last thing Pat and I wanted to do was wander around in the dreaded "Tabletop maze" so I outed with my soggy peice of paper and we entered the WP for the summit. It turned out we were on the correct path and on we chugged. All of a sudden the wind picked up but the rain just wouldn't quit. Gradually the trees got smaller and we hit a zone of dead trees and small balsams and in spite of the now howling wind the balsams protected us. The sound of the wind was eerie. I went ahead to stave off the chills and just as I neared the summit I met up with Timmus, Jean and Louis and then Jay and Carole who were on there way down. Yvon and Annie had just arrived. Right away I got out my dry shirt and synth parka, wool mitts, fleece hat etc. and got ready to wait for Dom and Tim. What a soggy bedraggled lot we were standing in the tiny clearing watching the clouds whip by overhead. It must of been wild on the exposed rock of Phelps! The rain had stopped so that was an improvement. The odd snowflake fell so we knew the temps were dropping. Yvon and Annie went down and soon after so did Pat. I continued my vigil vainly trying to establish radio contact. Dom' was coming in a tiny bit better but I couldn't understand a word he was saying when I heard him let out a whoop. I could hear him better live than over the radio! Talk about useless! Pat turned around to join the summit festivities which lasted for about 30 seconds and we headed down. Dom and I elected to run down and because I had left my parka on it got drenched from the trees and my sweat. I think it took 10 minutes to make the Van Ho where I put my heavy coat in my pack and then we cruised running pretty well the whole way back to the Dam, stopping to switch to bare boots just past the Phelps junction. We met up with AJ and Carol at the high water bridge and kept motoring....

[Rik]

Glad everyone had a good time and came out safe. Also glad I chose not to hike on Saturday!

[The Sikes]

Thanks Mav and Katie for giving Adam another shirt and for having kids. I know the kids had a great time hiking with other kids. It definately made a difference especially with that weather. Adam also says thanks for taking him up Cascade. Wish we could have joined you too. We'll get better at this winter stuff. If I could only pack a dryer in the car I think we would have been set.

[Jay H]

Speaking of wet, my backup boots which I used for Sunday's hike was still almost soaking wet from my hike on 1/15 in the catskills.

Strange enough, the weather pattern was almost identical for the two weekends, warm and wet saturday and cold and clear sunday. I wonder if this upcoming weekend is going to be the same.

It is a good sign and a good indication of everybody's preperation and experience that I did not hear any major problem this weekend other than the general uncomfortable wetness of being. :)

If I could only pack a dryer in the car I think we would have been set.

I love my heated seats in winter, they warm up faster than the engine and on my outback, the seats are absolute ovens. :)

Jay

[TFR]

Thanks Mav and Katie for giving Adam another shirt and for having kids. I know the kids had a great time hiking with other kids. It definately made a difference especially with that weather. Adam also says thanks for taking him up Cascade. Wish we could have joined you too. We'll get better at this winter stuff. If I could only pack a dryer in the car I think we would have been set.

FYI, there is a laundromat in the Plaza on the West side of Lake Placid, on Rt. 86, just past Hojo's. We used it extensively the weekend before last! :D There used to be one on the East side of the village too, next to the defunct IGA, but both are closed now! :(

[yvon]

Yvon and Annie had just arrived. Right away I got out my dry shirt and synth parka, ....

Yes but Annie did not even seem to be impressed when you removed your shirt.

[Mavs00]

I now have some -PICTURES- (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/gallery.htm) of all the fun, posted in my gallery.

[ProbKid]

I really like reading these trip reports, folks. The on-line pictures make it all come alive.

Neil, I've had my GPS flake out on me in foggy conditions, something I wish I had known more about BEFORE I was out in the Cook Inlet, off the Homer Spit.

Glad to hear everyone had fun despite some challenging conditions.

- Fran

[Neil]

Neil, I've had my GPS flake out on me in foggy conditions, something I wish I had known more about BEFORE I was out in the Cook Inlet, off the Homer Spit.


I figured out what it was. My RINO 130 had "Scramble" enabled. Simple as that. :oops: My apologies to Garmin!

[hawk]

I figured out what it was. My RINO 130 had "Scramble" enabled. Simple as that. :oops: My apologies to Garmin!

When in doubt, always suspect human error first!!

("Darn, my compass is pointing in the wrong direction and my map is backwards")

[Hikerdad]

Neil pretty much summed up our hike but he's is being extremely diplomatic when he says I didn't mind when he stopped to use his GPS.....the truth of the matter was I was "sucking wind" and needed the breaks....Spotty training does not equal an easy hike...I knew I was in trouble on the way up when he said he was going to a local park to train and climbing a 300 foot hill like 37 times (maybe a slight exaggeration) and he decribed Dominic (who was catching up with us) as "ultra-fit"....They blew by me on the way down, bounding along like ping pong balls...I tried to keep up but quickly gave it up as hopeless....Man! were they moving fast....I tried a couple of butt slides...fun but a bit scary....I made it down to the area of the split in the trail and thought "OK just don't get messed up here"...this area is pretty confusing in the summer also. I made it through easily enough and found Yvon(?) waiting for his partner near the marked trail. We talked for a moment and I proceeded...shortly past him was a fallen tree (you know the kind....forked branches 5-6 inches in diameter, laying perpendicular on the trail, maybe a foot off the ground). I stepped across the branches (which I had done successfully on the way up) and of course slipped between the branches...as I'm tipping over backward I realize my foot is sliding UNDER the one branch and my leg/calf is OVER the other branch and I'm falling backward to the ground...I thought "this is like a perfect leg breaking machine". I fell back and of course did not get hurt but was now stuck in the tree in a fairly ridiculous looking way...couldn't seem to move my foot and snowshoe forward or back....after a brief but strenuous struggle (and some mental cussing) I got out and went on my way. Now I had told my wife to pick me up at 2:30-3:00 and I realized that I probably wasn't going to make it out by then (and I know she worries like crazy) so I was trying to move along briskly....Then the cell phone in my pack rang and thinking it was my wife calling to ask about my progress and not wating to miss her, I quickly threw off my gloves, ripped off my pack and dug franticaly into the pocket that held the the phone and opened the plastic bag that had the phone in it (I had learned that trick after frying our first cell phone on a hike in the rain) and answered it only to find out it son #1 back in Binghamton calling to say his car was on the fritz again (oh, joyful life...) Well I trudged along, feet getting sorer and sorer. Not wanting to stop and check my feet and delaying my return (mentally picturing my wife and the US Calvary/Rangers charging up the trail to find me in a rescue mission) I just kept trudging along. I think I made pretty good time (at least for me)....I made it from Marcy Dam to the Loj is 45 minutes (so I don't think I'm too much of a slug) and made the Loj at 3:15 or so to find my wife waiting (and worrying) and to find blisters on the balls of both my feet....ten years of blister-free Adk hiking down the tubes. On the drive out my wife said she was going to wait until 3:30 and then talk to the rangers...I tried to explain that predicting estimated times of arrivals in Adirondack hiking is not an exact science and she had to give me some leeway but soon gave it up and thought "Well at least I never have to worry about a search party for me starting late".

So the hike turned out to be a great success and fun with great stories and great people even with the rain, snow, wind, cold, rocks, mud, ice, snow, no views, blisters, hiker eating trees, Neil's balky GPS radio, lung busting effort....just like the usual Adk hike....can't wait for the next...........