Mt. Whiteface

Two straight weeks, two straight failed attempts at reaching the summit of Whiteface.  Scaled the ledges just fine with the ice axe and crampons, but with several feet of fresh powder up top, we simply ran out of time.  I was probably no more than a couple hundred yards from the summit when I turned back.

This mountain is one frustrating winter climb...

 

We luckily were able to follow old tracks most of the way up

 

Sun came out just for this opening

 Just shy of summit and very steep

 Lonely

Descent

This horrible weather/early sunset/insanely busy lifestyle is starting to take a serious toll on this picture-a-day business.  Hopefully I will finally have some time this weekend to be able to shoot outdoors when it is actually still light out. 

Exhaust

A Rainy Day Flower

I really want to invest in a macro lens, but in this case, the inability to get a clean focus up close and the accentuation of the highlights in the picture creates a wonderful, dreamy soft-glow effect. 

Mt. Passaconaway (via Diceys Mill Tr.)

Accidentally made the mistake of hiking in the exact opposite direction as planned; don't ask what I was thinking, but I never go off plan like this.  Was planning to go Diceys Mill to Blueberry Ledge cutoff, up Blueberry to the summit of Mt. Whiteface, and then Rollins Tr back to Diceys up to the summit of Passaconaway and Diceys back to the bottom.  I planned this way so that, in the event that the ledges were too risky, I could simply turn back safely.  Going in the opposite direction practically required me to commit to heading down them.

Despite my original planned route, I ended up going straight up Diceys to Passaconaway first and then attempted to rush to Whiteface via Rollins.  After about 3/4 mile, decided the trail was too loosely packed to be able to hit the pace I needed to be successful before sunset and turned back (assuming I deemed the ledges too risky to descend, I needed to do the 4.6 round-trip on Rollins in 2 hours, and then the 3.7 down to trailhead in 1 hour... an indescribably brisk pace).  

Only saw one other on the trail today.  Microspikes the entire way and crampons for the final icy ascent.  Snowshoes recommended for Rollins Tr.   

Round-trip (including the Whiteface failed attempt): 10.6 miles / 5 hours.

 

Start of the day, looking up towards the Blueberry Ledges

 

Near the summit of Mt. Passaconaway

 

"Will Work For Food"

He's becoming all kinds of desperate.