What's that?  I'm considering doing the 46ers again?  Why yes, I am.  I'm not going to do them all in 3 months like I did over the summer of 2020, but I am going to do them between Dec 21 and Mar 21 for this quest... yes, you read that right, I'm going for a winter 46, aka the winter rocker.

This has been in my mind for a while, but a couple weeks ago I got serious about it and looked into what equipment I needed.  Not that surprising, but surprising to me, I really didn't need much.  Probably the biggest thing I needed (but could probably get away with using something else I already have) is a larger daypack.  The other stuff, like glacier glasses (damn snow), goggles (damn snow and wind), ice axe, and crampons (the kind that are tied to your boot and have a very aggressive spike.  I have mini spikes that are held on with rubber, and the snow shoes have spikes on them too, so this is really for the icy and steep areas) are recommended things, but I am likely to not need them except for a few specific peaks.  

So, sunday I'm going to head north for a shakedown hike, possibly a peak.  At this moment, I'm not sure what I am going to do, the options are many, and the trails may be interesting due to weather coming in today.  Right now, the options I'm considering are (in no particular order):

• Hike into lake Colden from Upper Works, option to do Marshall
• Hike into Bradley Pond from Upper Works, option to do Santanoni, Couchsachraga, and/or Panther
• Cascade and Porter from rt 73

Weather on Sunday looks good, highs in the high 20s, winds around 45mph, windchill above 0.  We're getting rain today/tonight, and then a couple inches of snow on top of that overnight.  Going on a hard packed trail like Cascade/Porter will be mostly the mini-spikes while something more remote like Marshall will be more snowshoe... We'll see what I choose Saturday.

You can follow my progress here.