Articles by Craigles700

I had no idea what to expect regarding snow conditions. The temps were hitting the upper 50's all week and I was worried about overly soft snow. So, I chose a safe gamble thinking I could handle whatever Elk Lake threw at me. I recruited Nancy as a heavy-weight trail-breaker and at 6:00 I pulled in to Clear Pond. She was already there and in short order we were set to go. I had a friend's...

I jumped at the opportunity to do this difficult trio of peaks with two superstars. We met at the Garden at 5:30 and spiked our way across mud and ice to Johns Brook Lodge. From there it was all snow. Our threesome became a quartet when Joe joined us. He was doing Haystack alone to finish his 46W. The rocks on Horse Hill were coated in a layer of verglas so we knew what was coming. Indeed...