Dec 21, Colden for winter credit.  Sunday I lead an ADK hike up Colden.  The weather forecast during the week was of concern because of the rain coming in Thursday and then the high winds predicted on Sunday.  In the end, it was a beautiful, if blustery, day to be hiking.  

The trails were pretty good overall.  As expected the hike in to Marcy Dam was quick and solid.  A couple wet spots and a couple blow downs, but nothing bad.  We did snowshoes the whole day, but this section could have been spikes most of the way.  The Avalanche Pass trail to Avalanche Camp was not that bad either, but the snow was getting thicker.  By the time we got to the still closed trail to Avalanche Pass and turned up to Lake Arnold, the snow depth was enough to be legally required without question.  This was solid though, and there were a few wet spots on the climb.  Much better than going up this trail in the summer though... no rocks!  Then we turned off to go up Colden.  The snow here was not as well packed, getting soft in spots.  Thankfully only a couple small blowdowns to get around.  

The wind on the top was wicked, and I wouldn't be surprised if the wind chill was in the negative teens as Mountain Point forecast (the NOAA product, not mountain forecast) was predicting for Marcy.  The clouds though were mostly not an issue.  It seemed like dark clouds to the west and clear skies to the east, but most of the time we were up with views of Marcy, her top was covered.  There were a couple of small sprung spruce traps near the true summit, but nothing major to worry about.

That was the good of the trip, along with the people I hiked with who were all amazing people, and I'd hike with them again.  The bad was stuff that happened probably a week earlier.  Someone had post holed the whole way up the mountain.  I could see signs of this on the climb up to Lake Arnold, but the Mogan Porter trail was worse.  This person was easily going in 10 inches if not hip deep in places to the peak.  I honestly have no idea how enjoyable that can be.  It's really slow going or you're going to hurt yourself.  Unfortunately, this also impacts all the following hikers until the holes get filled in, yes, even those in snowshoes.  I tripped over a half dozen or so of these holes.  I twisted my ankle a few times, and I tweaked my knees on a few of them.  I'm fine, but this could have been much worse, and I'm not one to want to be rescued 6 miles in from the nearest trailhead.... I'd be waiting a couple hours before someone showed up since there's a caretaker only a couple miles away, but I'd be waiting many many hours before I could be carried out.... that would not be fun to do... and in this weather, it's quite dangerous to do.

Please, when the snow starts getting soft and you start sinking more than an inch or so, put on snowshoes.  It's not just for you, but for everyone else after you.  It's a huge safety issue for everyone.

This now brings me to 24/46 for my winter round of 46.  The hike itself was 12.5 miles, 3000 feet of elevation and took just under 8 hours.  Year to date, 332 miles over 227 hours and climbing 16.3 miles.