November 29, 2008 - Big Slide Mountain

Thanksgiving weekend made for the perfect opportunity for Jack and Rich to try our first climb in the snow. It took us a lot of convincing, but we finally talked Aunt Kate, Uncle Craig, and Cousin Noah into coming with us on the trip. We picked Big Slide Mountain because we weren't sure about trail conditions (lots of snow lately), and if we had to turn back we could at least get some good views from The Brothers. The temperature was just below freezing at 8:00 AM in The Garden parking lot, but it was clear and promised to be a nice day.

It was pretty slow going compared to our Summer hikes, and soon we were starting to get worried about losing daylight before we could finish. Eventually we split up so Jack, Rich, and Kate could make a push for the top. We encountered mostly light snow and ice on the lower sections, but there we some pockets of deeper drift in the woods. We used micro spikes over our hiking boots, and they seemed to work pretty well. We all started to get tired as we got closer to the top, but we made it three (3) minutes before our self imposed Noon deadline to turn around and head back, but just enough time for Jack to collapse.

The total trip was about 8.0 miles and it took us 6.5 hours round-trip. We made excellent time coming back, and we met back up with Craig and Noah with about a mile to go to the car. Six (6) High Peaks down; 40 to go.