Steve Steffy
Well-known member
My daughter and I had a trip to the Adirondacks planned this past weekend. We were planning to ascend 5 high peaks in two days with an overnight tossed in. I checked the forecast and it was calling for rain. So we changed the game plan...3 peaks in one day and no overnight. Friday rolled around and I hear they're calling for sow in the higher elevations. We camped out in the truck Friday night to the sound of rain all night...another change of plans....let's just try to run to the summit of tyhe closest peak and call it a day.
As we arrived at the trailhead the rain started to look a little odd for being May 25th. It was a rain snow mix. We gathered our gear and headed for the register. A Ranger drove up and asked where we were heading and we told him about all the changes to our plans and our current plans. He advised us to reconsider thjose plans as well. He informed us of mid winter conditions with 40 mph winds and white out conditions on the summit. We told him thanks for the info and assured him we woulkd trun around if it got too bad. I honestly had my doubts and thought he was just blowing smoke. Boy was I wrong.
As we began our ascent of Wright Peak the snow on the ground began getting deeper and deeper. I still felt safe enough to press on so on we went. Half way or so to the spur to Wright we crossed this awesome snow laden waterfall...
The funny part of this story is my daughter had just flown back home from California the day before. She had sunburn feet from playing and surfing on the beaches out west. Now she found herself trudging along with her Dad...wondering what in the heck she got herself into this time...
The further up we went the deeper the snow got and the heavier the snow was coming down. So maybe, just maybe that Ranger had an idea of what was going on up there.
We finalkly reached the jucntion to the summit of Wright Peak. We were a mere .4 of a mile from our goal and it was really coming down hard and blowing. We met a couple of summit stewards at the junction and they gave us the run down. 40 + mph winds white out conditions, single digit wind chill, hard driving snow and ice covered rocks. I looked at Tori and asked waht she wanted to do. I was fully ready to go to treeline and re-assess the situation, but we really weren't prepared for the conditions we encountered. Tori said she was getting cold and didn't want to continue. That's all it took, we go up as a team and we go down as a team. The mountain will be there another day. We began our descent and she started to complain of cold hands. That was understandable with starting in the rain/snow and ending in blinding snow. It's probably better that we didn't push the summit. That could have been pretty hairy. When we left there was 6-8" on the gorund and still coming down. They were calling for 14". We stopped at a local diner afterward and some of the locals said Whiteface Mountain had 18" of snow so far. Good times...good adventures.
As we arrived at the trailhead the rain started to look a little odd for being May 25th. It was a rain snow mix. We gathered our gear and headed for the register. A Ranger drove up and asked where we were heading and we told him about all the changes to our plans and our current plans. He advised us to reconsider thjose plans as well. He informed us of mid winter conditions with 40 mph winds and white out conditions on the summit. We told him thanks for the info and assured him we woulkd trun around if it got too bad. I honestly had my doubts and thought he was just blowing smoke. Boy was I wrong.
As we began our ascent of Wright Peak the snow on the ground began getting deeper and deeper. I still felt safe enough to press on so on we went. Half way or so to the spur to Wright we crossed this awesome snow laden waterfall...
The funny part of this story is my daughter had just flown back home from California the day before. She had sunburn feet from playing and surfing on the beaches out west. Now she found herself trudging along with her Dad...wondering what in the heck she got herself into this time...
The further up we went the deeper the snow got and the heavier the snow was coming down. So maybe, just maybe that Ranger had an idea of what was going on up there.
We finalkly reached the jucntion to the summit of Wright Peak. We were a mere .4 of a mile from our goal and it was really coming down hard and blowing. We met a couple of summit stewards at the junction and they gave us the run down. 40 + mph winds white out conditions, single digit wind chill, hard driving snow and ice covered rocks. I looked at Tori and asked waht she wanted to do. I was fully ready to go to treeline and re-assess the situation, but we really weren't prepared for the conditions we encountered. Tori said she was getting cold and didn't want to continue. That's all it took, we go up as a team and we go down as a team. The mountain will be there another day. We began our descent and she started to complain of cold hands. That was understandable with starting in the rain/snow and ending in blinding snow. It's probably better that we didn't push the summit. That could have been pretty hairy. When we left there was 6-8" on the gorund and still coming down. They were calling for 14". We stopped at a local diner afterward and some of the locals said Whiteface Mountain had 18" of snow so far. Good times...good adventures.
