mapadu
New member
Sometimes, plan B works out just as well.
Two cars were shuttled to Bakerville the night prior, with the purpose of carting six people back to their starting point - the A-Basin parking lot. In between was to be a challenging traverse along the Lenawee / Black Mtn ridges, and more, to the peak of Torreys.
A transplanted Vermonter (me), two Green Mountain State residents, and three Czechs made up the six, who had an early East Wall hike in mind. The access point beyond North Pole to the Lenawee ridgeline was key for us, which started the day with a setback.
Patrol had elected to shut down the East Wall that day. Another access point needed to be used, which added precious time and effort to the hike. We went, and I silently conceded that plan A probably wasn?t going to happen. Whatever distance we could cover in a reasonable time would determine plan B ? which turned out to be this
(as seen the next day):
We approached from the far right of the above photo, and the ridgeline was a nice reward in itself.
While things were slow, conversation somehow migrated to crotch-rot and its cross-cultural connotations. The often considered and seldom mentioned idea of bailing on the goal was omnipresent among us, I think, but that mattered little when compared to the task at hand.
The high-pitched, wailing feedback of our dueling radios sounded alien as we broke above ?Large Marge.? Snacks were eaten, agreements were made, the hike ended, and skiing began.
At our first gathering point, it was unanimous.
?Plan B is freakin? sweet!?
Looking up at the meat of our 2,200-foot second-choice was pretty satisfying.
Satisfaction mixed, though, with regret for not completing the original task. We couldn?t let it be, which had us setting our alarms for 3:30am the next morning. Literally, and in all other ways, we left the driveway at 4:20, began hiking at 4:48, and the rest turned out to be magnificent
Two cars were shuttled to Bakerville the night prior, with the purpose of carting six people back to their starting point - the A-Basin parking lot. In between was to be a challenging traverse along the Lenawee / Black Mtn ridges, and more, to the peak of Torreys.
A transplanted Vermonter (me), two Green Mountain State residents, and three Czechs made up the six, who had an early East Wall hike in mind. The access point beyond North Pole to the Lenawee ridgeline was key for us, which started the day with a setback.
Patrol had elected to shut down the East Wall that day. Another access point needed to be used, which added precious time and effort to the hike. We went, and I silently conceded that plan A probably wasn?t going to happen. Whatever distance we could cover in a reasonable time would determine plan B ? which turned out to be this
(as seen the next day):
We approached from the far right of the above photo, and the ridgeline was a nice reward in itself.
While things were slow, conversation somehow migrated to crotch-rot and its cross-cultural connotations. The often considered and seldom mentioned idea of bailing on the goal was omnipresent among us, I think, but that mattered little when compared to the task at hand.
The high-pitched, wailing feedback of our dueling radios sounded alien as we broke above ?Large Marge.? Snacks were eaten, agreements were made, the hike ended, and skiing began.
At our first gathering point, it was unanimous.
?Plan B is freakin? sweet!?
Looking up at the meat of our 2,200-foot second-choice was pretty satisfying.
Satisfaction mixed, though, with regret for not completing the original task. We couldn?t let it be, which had us setting our alarms for 3:30am the next morning. Literally, and in all other ways, we left the driveway at 4:20, began hiking at 4:48, and the rest turned out to be magnificent