| Summary | None |
| Owner | Matthew Gilbertson |
| Creation Date | 2009-01-25 20:29:14 UTC-0500 |
| Description | Intrepid adventurers: Adam Rosenfield, Karen Cruz, Greg Pfiel, Diana Michalek, David Leibrandt, Jason Acimovic, Shivin Misra, Sitaram Karanam (SK)
Leaders: Matthew and Eric Gilbertson Originally we planned to build snow shelters and play hockey at Greenleaf Pond, close to treeline. But with a Wind Chill Warning issued by the Mount Washington Observatory for predicted windchills below -50F on Sunday, we decided instead upon Ethan Pond, which we hoped would be sheltered from the trees and not as cold. It turned out to be the right decision. It just so happens that Dave and Petek were thinking the same way, and independently decided to change their Old Speck overnight to Ethan Pond overnight instead. It would indeed be a fun night in the woods. With a full 10-person group, we made it in good time to the shores of Ethan Pond (out of Crawford Notch) by 2pm. The wind was still stong by the pond so we decided to set up camp as far away as we could get. We intended to walk at least 100 feet off the trail, but only made it about 50 after swimming through chest-deep snow. We quickly and efficiently began to establish camp. Everyone had a mission. Dave, Jason, Adam, and SK excavated a lavish kitchen and furnished it with sculpted snow benches. Shivin, Karen, Greg, Diana, Matthew, and Eric started piling snow for snow shelters. After packng the snow down with bodily force (check out one picture of Jason on top), everyone grabbed some 18 inch sticks and thrust them into the mounds for the appropriate wall thickness. As the snow compacted, we busted out four stoves: 3 Simmerlites and an XGK. All four performed beautifully in the 0F temps and together yielded about 15 liters of boiling water in less than 3 hours. Meanwhile, SK was tunneling like a maniac and Matthew helped unload sledful after sledful of snow from the first shelter. Adam, Diana, Eric, and Karen worked on the other two. By 7:30pm, with all the water boiled and three snow shelters excavated, it was time for the 'real' fire. Utilizing Murray Hamlet's cotton ball/vaseline trick and with the help of the magnesium spark, we quickly prepared a raging inferno. This night was a night of contradictions: standing around in -5F with a 500F fire dug into a snowy pit; sleeping in snow for ehanced warmth. <i>Most</i> of us slept warmly that night. With 5 people in one shelter, the inside temp read 37F, while outside it was -8F. Matthew's handy indoor/outdoor thermometer allowed him to simultaneuosly monitor the outside temp from the comfort of inside his sleeping bag (approx 86F). Throughout the night the temperature difference was about 90F! We awoke early in the morning to a balmy 0F temp. Thankfully it hadn't reached the -20F that was predicted. Now it was time for some hockey on Ethan Pond. There wasn't a single area of exposed ice on the pond. We spent 2 hours shoveling and scraping the ice/snow combination from the middle before we finally had a smooth rink big enough for some 2-on-2 action. Snowy barriers on every side were much softer to dive into than plexiglass. While Matthew, Eric, Karen, and Adam duked it out on the rink, the others sought to measure the ice thickness. We wanted to know what our exact margin of safety was. They chiseled away using the ice axe, and after 45 minutes of toil finally struck water. The ice was 2ft thick! 3 inches would be the bare min to support a person. Now we wanted to know the water depth. Eric stuck his hockey stick into the hole for fun, and before he could insert it fully into the hole it struck the bottom. The pond was only 2 ft deep, with 2 ft of ice on top! No ice fishing today. We took off our saktes in the super-convenient warming hut we had discovered, a snow shelter that some other group had recently created on the far end of the pond. Snow had drifted over the entrance, but we shoveled it away to reveal a spacious 5-person dwelling. We hoped that in the future someone could take advantage of the now seven snow shelters around the Ethan Pond area. We broke camp around 1pm and rapidly covered the 2.6 miles along the AT back to the cars. Along the way Eric and Matthew finally got to take advantage of their torpedo sleds. They rocketed down the entire second half of the hike in style. We decided to celebrate at the Plymouth Common Man. We had all stayed warm and safe the past two days, and looked forward to our next adventure in the snow. -Matthew Gilbertson |