Winter wonderland on Colden

I enjoyed last year's March vacation that I decided to do it again this year. What's not to enjoy about spring skiing and winter hiking in generally sunny and warmish temperatures. To kick off the holiday, Ken and I decided on a hike up Mt Colden via the Lake Arnold trail. It is a 6.5 mile hike that starts out mostly flat, until you reach Avalanche Camp that is. Thereafter it more than makes up the difference with a constant uphill grade that gets steeper as you get higher up. If you have read any of my previous reports from last summer you would know that this is my fourth time up the Lake Arnold trail since last June. While I almost know every boulder by name you could not see any of them now as they are buried under a generous snowpack that forms a well packed sidewalk (tilted for sure but a flat surface).

I haven't been out that much this winter and the inactivity made itself apparent as soon as we started uphill. Numerous stops (without the usual excuse of taking photos) to keep the pulse rate down got us to Lake Arnold and the junction with the trail to Colden. We stopped for a snack and went to investigate the tent site and found a privy that was half buried in snow, when you gotta go .... This section of trail was less packed and definitely steeper but also beautiful with snow and rime covered trees all around and many trail disks at knee level or below. We made it to the north summit with its beautiful view in all directions and marshmallow trees. I decided that the view from there was just fine and that was as far as I was going to go. Ken headed off to the actual summit which is about a half mile and several hundred feet higher.

This worked out well as we were able to take some nice photos across the gap between the peaks. I also appreciated a bit of quiet time as monday was the funeral of a friend of mine in Scotland who died too young. These mountain are a great place to reflect and get a little healing of the soul. The clouds were hanging at about 5000 feet and so we could not see the top of Marcy and Algonquin was drifting in and out of the clouds most of the time we were up there.

The descent was much easier. Ken had brought a red mini sled that added jet fuel to the manouver referred to as the glissade or butt slide. All the steep bits that we huffed and puffed up slid by in a flash and even the walking down hill went by fast. You can slide down on snow pants but I think the red rocket is the way to go. The last three miles of the hike was a bit of a trudge and I could feel blisters starting to form and muscles starting to tighten. No complaints though, it was another awesome day out in the high peaks.

More pics here