Winter Santanoni TR

“I met up with Gremlin at Upper Works (Bradley Pond Trailhead) around 9 Saturday morning. Temperatures were somewhere in the low 20’s and the cloudy skies above began to drop snow. I hurried up and changed and we were off. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I really need to get a pack more suitable for winter loads. Although my 4100ci Golite Trek pack was large enough to hold all of my winter gear, it by no means capable of handling the 40+/-lbs it must have weighed. Fortunately the hike in to the lean-to was only about 4.5 miles. The first 1/3 of the trail was along a winding road that goes to a private club. The club road was well packed by snowmobiles, which made the going much easier. Soon we made it to the Bradley Pond trail which we were lucky enough to find it broken all the way to the lean-to. The hike in was rather uneventful, which was much nicer than the regular mud fest you get hiking this trail in the warmer months. We made it to the lean-to around noon.

At this point we decided not to try to make it to one of the summits then, as it was still snowing and there really wasn’t enough time to make it back before dark anyway. We state around and shot the #&%!$ for a few hours before making dinner. After eating we watched the snow until it got dark, before getting into our sleeping bags and went to sleep at the late hour of 6pm (hey it was dark, and it was getting cold).

We awoke the next morning to the suns rays casting across Panther Peak. The first though that came to mind when I peaked my head out of my sleeping bag was, “damn it’s cold.” (According to weather.com, it was -15°F in Newcomb and we were about 1500’ higher in elevation so I figure it was about –20). It took us longer than we wanted to finally pull our selves from our warm sleeping bags, eat breakfast, and finally pack up for the hike ahead. By about 8:30 we were finally hiking on the trail down towards the herd path that leads to Time Square. It was absolutely gorgeous that morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the snow from the day before, capped all of the spruce trees; it was a winter wonderland.

We found the herd path to be broken out, with the occasional stray course that would zigzag off the main path. The path was much narrower than the marked trail as it winded its way towards Panther Brook. Because of the snowfall from the day before, we found ourselves getting drenched with the white stuff when we would brush against the many spruce trees. Once we made it to Panther Brook, the path took a sharp right and headed straight up towards the shoulder of Panther Peak. By the time we made it about halfway up the ridge, the trail was taking its toll on us and we decided that it was better to turn around than push on and end up in deep #&%!$ as a result. Unfortunately this weekend was going to be the weekend where Gremlin would finish his 46. We made our way back to the lean-to, which took us half as long going down as going up, we packed our bags, and hiked out. Though we didn’t obtain our goal, we still had a good time.

http://community.webshots.com/album/284933151rXQeWX”

“those peaks have your name on them Gremlin! You'll get them soon enough.

Cool TR and pics zac.
last edited: 2/28/05 5:05:21 PM”

“Good job Zac, something 'bout snow and mountains that gets me everytime. Beautiful!”

“ooooh, pretty.
Seriously, that is pretty country you have up there.”

“Don't sweat it, as long as a good time was had by all. You'll get up there one of these times...”

“awesome pics and TR LZ. :)”

“Labor Day Weekend.....................anyone?





Great photos, boys!!
last edited: 2/28/05 7:25:51 PM”

“Awesome photos and great determination!”

“And the saga continues!”

“I wanna go on the next revenge hike.

That #&%!$in' mountain needs killin'.”

“Glad you two had the sense to turn around. Very smart...'tis better to be safe than to be sorry.

Zac...Did you ever get my Email?”

“Got your email Buddur and now you have mail.”

“It must have been lovely being up Panther Creek at a time like that........exhausting too.

You guys hit -20??”

“You wouldn't have even known Panther Brook was there, because it was covered by about 30" of snow.

I'm not 100% sure it was -20. I looked at the low for Newcomb on Saturday, which said it got down to -15. Since we were a little over 1500' high than the town, I figured it would be at least 5 degrees colder. Neither Gremlin nor myself had a thermometer.”

“Ooops, Brook !!

But it was dang cold.”

“Damn...I thought we had a lot of snow when we tried this trip last time.....”

“Bump

Where's Gremlin's side of the story?”

“Nice photo lumberzac. Where in New England are the Santanonis. With all the snow Maine is my guess.”

“The Santanonis are located just outside of the town of Newcomb in Northern New York.”

“I can't believe Gremmy poo went up there and didn't tell me. Maybe he thought I jinxed him on all the past attempts. j/k of course, but those hills have it in for Grem.”

“I would love to go back up there avec Oncle Gremlin.
last edited: 3/09/05 5:49:22 PM”

“Thanks, Zac.

My side of the story is that my butt was dragging due to lack of fitness. Usually, my active life style keeps me going, but (I guess I'm making excuses) after I broke my ankle on Aug 27 my activity level dropped.

NHormally I ski or snowshoe - mostly behind my house - once or twice a week. We have had so little snow that I had put on my skis once before the Santanoni trip.

My original plan was to do one peak per day and hike out Tuesday, or even Wednesday. Zac was very kind about waiting for me and I could see he was beginning to worry. When I started dragging on the way to the lean-to I told Zac that I'd hike out with him Sunday. At the speed I was going there was no way we'd get back to traihead before midnight.

I was pretty tired when we got back to the cars.

I've been on skis and snowshoes since and have started weekly training with my rugby club.

Lumberzac is a great hiking partner, BTW.

Doug”

“He's a rascal.”

“You weren't the only one, whose butt was dragging Gremlin. I was pretty beat when we got back to the cars.”