Kathy & Cathy's Adventures: WINTER 46ERS UPDATE

CONTINUING THE CHALLENGE OF THE WINTER 46R

The 2019 winter season has been a wonderful experience for me to date, in my goal to summit all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks during the winter solstice, which is any time between December 21st and March 21st of any year. Although there was lots of snow and ice this season, the amount of snowfall made it possible, with other factors, for me to hike the following mountains:
Rocky Peak Ridge, Marshall, Gothics, Armstrong, Haystack, Basin, Marcy, and Allen. Each had their own uniqueness and challenge.

In January 2019, we had an extremely cold spell and the weekend I had planned with two other friends had to be altered given the amount of snow that would fall over Saturday evening, through the night and into Sunday. We were to hike into Bradley Pond to camp Saturday night and Sunday hike Santanoni, Coucharaga and Panther, back to camp Sunday night, then Monday hike back out to the car. With the amount of snow expected, we would have great difficulty breaking trail with a full pack and doing this for a distance of about 5 miles. Our alternative plan proved to be the wiser choice. It was a section of the Northville Placid Trail, starting from a section in Long Lake out to a lean-to about 2 miles in. We all hopped in one vehicle, a truck, and drove from Lake Placid to Long Lake. It was good we had the truck as traction driving up the side road covered in packed snow to the trailhead would have been an issue with a small vehicle. Given there were 3 of us full loaded with our packs, water, food, extra amenities for the cold, there was enough weight in the truck. We made a stop at the corner store that looks like a museum and there we warmed up, picked up a toboggan for the wood, which we would pull for 2 miles to the lean-to. We were warned of extreme cold temperatures that weekend, which did go as low as -30C if not lower during the night. We did well Saturday night sleeping in the lean-to. It was a full moon so the night was lit up with sparkling flakes of snow as it gently floated down. We woke up to a morning packed with fresh snow, so our day was to break trail back out to the truck. Late in the afternoon as we made our way back to the lean-to, one friend crossed a frozen creek which was not totally frozen and broke through the ice, getting wet up to her hips. Fortunately, we were near the lean-to so we quickly went into action, starting a fire, getting her clothes changed, heating up water for her to drink, set up the tent and got her nestled into the tent covered with blankets and sleeping bags. She slowly recovered and was fine by early morning. There was a lot of snow that night, so once again we needed to break trail again as we made our way out.
We were thankful we had each other through this journey, which pulled us closer as friends.

In January of 2020, I attempted to summit Dix, backpacking in to the Bouquet lean-to for 2 nights. I reached just below the junction exhausted from trying to break trail as the snow had drifted with more added and it became too difficult and I didn't want to return to the lean-to damp and in the dark. In February of 2020, I was able to summit Redfield and Cliff as a 2-night backpack into a lean-to and next day hike both mountains returning to the lean-to for the night and out the following day.

Hiking in the winter as oppose to summer brings an entire different look and challenge, and a new perspective on how to approach these beautiful Adirondack mountains.

So far here is a list of the mountains I summited in the winter:
Whiteface and Esther (solo)
Cascade and Porter with friend (Norm)
Street and Nye with friends (Sylvie and Veronica)
Colvin and Blake (solo)
Colden (solo)
Phelps with friend (Chrissy)
Wright with friend (Chrissy)
Algonquin, Boundary and Iroquois with friend (Ginette)
Sawteeth with friend (Sylvie)
Dial and Nippletop with friends (Chrissy and Julius)
Saddleback with friends (Glenna and Lorraine)
Seward and Seymour with friends (Michelle and Chrissy)
Donaldson and Emmons with friends (Michelle and Chrissy)
Giant (4x) and Rocky Peak Ridge (solo)
Tabletop with group
Upper Wolf Jaw and Lower Wolf Jaw with group
Big Slide with friend (Glenna)
Marshall (solo)
Gothics and Armstrong with friends (Christine and 2 others)
Allen with friend (Christine)
Marcy with friend (Chrissy)
Haystack and Basin (solo) to JBL then met 4 others at JBL who were doing the same.
Redfield and Cliff (solo) as a camping trip into Upper Works on Feb 17, 2020.
Macomb, South and East Dix (Carson and Grace peaks), and Hough on Mar 15, 2020.

Left to do:
Santanoni, Panther, Couchraga, Grey, Skylight, Dix.