Photo's by John and Sarah
We car-pooled up from Derry and had pleasant conversation, I'd never been up Glencliff so I was excited. It was 9:30 by the time we started up the Glencliff. The morning sun was warm and beautiful, casting long shadows. John, Sarah, Anne and I headed across a wide field over a gurgling brook and up the trail. I was really pleased that my wife agreed to come along. She's a three-season hiker and a strong one at that but winter is not her favorite. I decided to put on the snowshoes right at the beginning, the rest barebooted up the gentle slopes.
Moosilauke (or was that the South Peak) stood tall and rounded, the sky was pure blue. We decided to take a nice leisurely pace, many stops to de-layer, put on snowshoes or just talk and snack. Soon three of us were wearing snowshoes....John's were in the shop so he barebooted. His crampons were ready if it ever got icy. The soft corn snow was being beaten into a new hard sidewalk, we leap-frogged one group and a woman who was hiking alone. She'd done this one many times and was gearing up for the Franconias.
The woods through here were open, we saw several big old birch trees and one enormous oak lower down. The trail zig-zagged back and forth up the ridge, we could see some views now through the open woods. When we reached the steeper part, Anne was beginning to struggle with cramps. John went up ahead to see how much further before we'd reach the ridge. We saw tantalizing glimpses of what looked like the ridge but the trail just swung back up the steepening trail.
Now it just went up and though not really steep was bad enough for Anne. I offered her the chance to turn back here, she wasn't having fun. We stopped, ate a snack or two and continued on. She wanted to at least reach the ridgeline. It was hard to watch her take a few steps, bend over in pain and stop. Again, I said "we can go down, John and Sarah can go on." She was stubborn and wanted to go on. Finally we reached the place where you can go to the South Peak and soon after joined up with the Carriage road. I'd been on this one before and knew it was much flatter.
We only stopped for a short-time, a group had just come down off the summit and they warned us of the wind. A sign said .8 to the summit. Anne's goal then was to just get to a place where she could see some views. She'd walk a few steps, bend over in extreme pain and stop. John and Sarah went on ahead, again I said to Anne, let's go down, you don't feel good. She was stubborn.
We finally got a view of the summit and it looked so close she decided to go ahead. It was a long and slow process, we layered up, put on face protection and ventured out onto the open ridge. Others were coming down, or were hunkered into the lee of a boulder on the summit. It's no wonder trees don't grow very big up here, the wind was 30-35mph and we still had some protection.
The last .3 were painful for Anne. John and Sarah reached the summit, it was his 30th in winter. The winds were fierce, now we had no protection and it was like a phantom train running you over. I'd felt these on Washington and inside they clocked it at 70mph. When they hit you just slump over, grab a rock and go on. Grit and determination got Anne to the top, she wasn't happy at the ordeal but I was proud of her. #28 in winter for me, her fourth.
We huddled and took a few pictures, Sarah and John played in the incredible gusts like a pair of children. I heard many many giggles. Meanwhile I was digging in my pack for first aid in the form of tylenol and antacid pills, she drank it down with some slushy water. Winds died down for a few seconds then were back again with force. It was well after 2pm, time to get off this mountain.
Anne stood and the winds bowled her over, ouch! We crawled, our way over rocks back onto the path. There was lots of ice on the path. John with his swiss bob in hand and no crampons was like an out of control sail boat. At one point he looked like a grandmother all bent over, barely moving at all, I almost went over and took his hand to walk him across one icey section like the good boyscout I am . We quickly made it back down into the more sheltered area where John played with his swiss bob on the ice and snow.
This next section was very slow for us, John and Sarah went on while I stayed behind Anne. Took us a long time to get back to the junction where we all sat, ate something and rested. Now was the fun part, butt-sliding down the Glencliff! John led the way with his Swiss Bob finding hidden rocks and roots for us, he had his share of spills. The rest of us followed with varying speed, giggles and bumps. Anne began to feel better and the hike out was a joy. We were back well before the sun went down over the mountains.
Anne said she's glad she pushed on. Thanks to John and Sarah for the nice company. We ate at the Woodstock Inn afterwards and saw MichaelJ!
