One Pissed off Devil 2-5
Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 1:38 pm
I have the habit of looking for storms and heading out into the wilderness to test my self and experience the awesomeness of winter however Friday the storm found us.
We knew weather was moving in so we started at 6AM by hiking up the never ending Falls Rd to the Notch and eventually to the start of the Devil's Backbone. This is when the storm really started to move in. The winds picked up, the temperature plummeted, and the visibility went to nil. This only added to the excitement of my first accent of the DBB in winter. Several times we considered turning back to live another day but we were managing well and so we pressed on. The winds gusted strong enough to nearly knock you off your feet and the ice cut into your face. After a few hours we were turning into rim ice popsicles. Even our goggles froze over which further diminished our ability to navigate. By 12PM we reached the saddle between Baldy and Hardwood and made the decision to head down. Our gear was doing its job but we were wearing most of what we had reserved for "just in case" and decided it was best not to go any higher with the storm only intensifying.
We began to head down the east side of bowl using the GPS to aim for the hut as visibility was often between 5 to 25 feet. The snow was way too icy to glissade and rather steep so we walked down backwards to about 8,900 ft where the winds subsided and the snow became soft enough to plunge step and glissade to hut. From there it was simple and amazingly calm as we made it back to the car at 3PM.
I can't get the photos to post here directly so I will keep adding the link to facebook. The link will take you to the 4 trips I have done this season and posted previously. Friday's photos are the last 10 in the album. enjoy.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 3522692a9f
We knew weather was moving in so we started at 6AM by hiking up the never ending Falls Rd to the Notch and eventually to the start of the Devil's Backbone. This is when the storm really started to move in. The winds picked up, the temperature plummeted, and the visibility went to nil. This only added to the excitement of my first accent of the DBB in winter. Several times we considered turning back to live another day but we were managing well and so we pressed on. The winds gusted strong enough to nearly knock you off your feet and the ice cut into your face. After a few hours we were turning into rim ice popsicles. Even our goggles froze over which further diminished our ability to navigate. By 12PM we reached the saddle between Baldy and Hardwood and made the decision to head down. Our gear was doing its job but we were wearing most of what we had reserved for "just in case" and decided it was best not to go any higher with the storm only intensifying.
We began to head down the east side of bowl using the GPS to aim for the hut as visibility was often between 5 to 25 feet. The snow was way too icy to glissade and rather steep so we walked down backwards to about 8,900 ft where the winds subsided and the snow became soft enough to plunge step and glissade to hut. From there it was simple and amazingly calm as we made it back to the car at 3PM.
I can't get the photos to post here directly so I will keep adding the link to facebook. The link will take you to the 4 trips I have done this season and posted previously. Friday's photos are the last 10 in the album. enjoy.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 3522692a9f