| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2005-01-10 22:32:55 UTC-0500 |
| Description |
Welch Dickey Intro Hike Date: January 9, 2005 Location: Welch and Dickey Mountain Trails People: Rick Abbot, Chris Glazner, Daniel Collins, Songeeta Palcharudhuri, Kriti Jain, Mandeep Singh, Chris Lesniewski-Lass, Jennifer Tu, Antonio Vicinte, Camilla Fox The most popular trail in all of the White Mountains! Winter sunrises are the most beautiful of the year. The leafless trees reveal more of the skys bright colors, which seem even more vibrant when superimposed upon the reflective snow. The mountains also have a certain kind of quiet heavy, peaceful, and satisfying. We began from this still early morning at Camelot, which was not so still inside! Sixty people scrambled about, devouring complex carbohydrates, gathering a plethora of gear, and struggling to get out of the door while staying out of the way. The Welch-Dickey trail is an approximately four and a half mile loop covering the two peaks Welch and Dickey. Welch and Dickey are almost one mountain with two peaks, separated only by a dip in between the two. The trail leads up to Welch Peak, then ascends to Dickey peak, and finally returns to the base of the mountain. The views were breathtaking, but not just for their beauty. The trite advice dont look down has never been so true much of the trail was large, severely inclined rocks covered with a 1-1.5 sheet of ice and 3-4 inches of powdery snow. Gazing down along the rock as we climbed down, I could not see more trail in front of me. Instead, I saw a highway with ant-sized cars driving along. For a first time crampon user (and blunt ones at that), the heights were at times unnerving. But with time, we grew to trust these pieces of metal strapped on our toasty Mickey Mouse boots. The group began fully layered and perhaps one-fourth of a mile into the descent began to de-layer. Since many of us were first time winter hikers, we took breaks for water and gorp (who came up with that word anyway?) quite often. The first half of the trip up was fairly easy. We put on crampons, practiced using them on some easy hills, then tromped up steeper, sheerer rocks with the guidance of Rick and Chris. Although we took longer than anticipated (due to all the extra stops), we reached the Welch peak and enjoyed some amazing views. Most of us were down to wicking layers and shells by this time. Between Welch and Dickey peaks were probably some of the hardest descents. The leaders were easily able to scramble down, unafraid of momentary lack of control. The rest of us, however, took much longer as we gingerly moved down the hill, sometimes giving up and sliding. This scenario occurred often, much to the amusement of our leaders: they would easily and nimbly ascend or descend a step or slope; the rest of us struggled with ice picks, crampons, vegetation, knees, and, most importantly, the booty-slide down the ice (careful of our crampons, of course!). After we reached Dickey peak, and took a moment to admire the view, we began descending again. For a first time hiker, probably tired and therefore less coordinated from the first half of the hike, this was the hardest part. We descended some relatively steep inclines (again, from the point of view of a first time hiker), then removed our crampons when Chris directed us to. Seeing how much all of us, including the leaders, stumbled and slid on the next 1/4 mile down, we should have kept them on longer! It wasnt too much of a problem, though. The trip ended with an easier decent in the dark, most of us quickly walking in between trees and vegetation, and sliding when possible (Gortex waterproof pants were a very good buy!). There were no injuries (other than maybe a bruised butt and a scrape) and the hike was pleasant and spirits high all of the way. Along the trail, I learned a lot of things. I learned to eat and drink whether or not I felt the need. However, I still dont get how to tell whether or not Im hydrated. Apparently your pee is supposed to be clear, but when do you see your pee when youre on a hike? [ed. note: When you pee!] Along those lines, I learned that both men and dogs pee on trees (though Im not sure if men put their legs up or not), that its okay to cede control and let things slide some of the time (and by things, I mean my bad self down a hill), snow breaks falls quite well, its possibly to sweat in quite warm twenty degree conditions, laugh when you fall, and your leaders and peers are actually entertained by your clumsiness. Oh yes I think I am beginning to see why rebelling against homeostasis and human-friendly conditions to brave the wild outdoors is so addictive, if crazy. |