7 peak weekend

[Mike S]

Managed to get out all three days of presidents weekend.
12/18
On Saturday went up to do Plateau and Sugarloaf as they were #33 and 34 for my wife's winter round. Sugarloaf was pretty icy on both sides , crampons are your best friends on the Catskills right now. A rope and ice axe was pretty useful on the ascent. On the descent, I tripped on a root and slid down the ice 50ft over/into a couple boulders and somehow managed to walk away unscathed. Most terrifying moment of my hiking career. Chilly with snow flurries all day. Watched sunset from the rock thrones at Dibbler's quarry, it was sweet.
12/19
Vly and Bearpen, for a quick easy day. Approached from the south, signs say road is closed but I had no problems getting to the snowplow turnaround, which obviously is not being used. Vly has a bunch of snow over ice, BP just has the snow. I found a drift on Vly that was KNEE DEEP! I saw in the canister that the people ahead of me were headed to BP for a 35 finish. I missed the celebration but got to congratulate the guy on his way down. Nice warm sunny day. At least a foot of snow up high.
12/20
Blackhead range, just cause. Not much snow down low, patchy ice here and there all the way to the escarpment trail. More snow from there up on top of ice which was exposed by previous buttsliders. Mini crampons did just fine and I was in the sun on the summit in no time. Headed off to BDome down some bare rock, some ice, some snow melting away in the sun. The ascent of BD went from snow to rock to mud to snow to ice. Viewpoints were perfect today with clear skies. The trip to TCole and back was much snowier but still no need for snowshoes. Stopped and chatted with a few people along the way, (saw a group bare booting up BD, I'm sure their descent was a nightmare) and still did the loop in just under 4 hrs.
Beautiful weekend in the cats. I'm 30/35 in February . I don't think I can polish it off this season.

Bring crampons.