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Jan. 10, 2004 (Sat.)
Elevations: 3035 feet, 4420 feet, 4627 feet; Order of Height: 152, 20, 12
Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Markus Wandel, Caroline Doucet, Luc Alary, Pu Chen
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We wanted to take advantage of a nice and clear winter weekend day that had presented itself to us after so many weeks of very wet and soggy conditions. I'd always wanted to do the Rocky Peak Traverse in winter, and I wanted to do it when it was nice and clear. So, this seemed the perfect day, albeit a little bit on the cold side: the forecast for the day was in the -25C range without wind chill!

The hike went well, and the weather was cold but very beautiful. No one had been on the route since the last snowfall, although below 3000 feet there was so little snow (less than 6 inches) that we barebooted it. Bald Peak was a perfect spot to have lunch, although by then it was already 1pm. By the time we got to the main ridge of Rocky Peak, it became apparent that we were making less progress than we thought. It was getting colder and the prospect of doing a significant and challenging portion of the hike in the dark was a daunting thought!

After Rocky Peak, the last steep ascent up Giant I found very tiring. We spent about 30 seconds in pitch black on the very windy summit of Giant (nice views of twinkling lights in the valleys, though). The way down from Giant had been steep and very treacherous and icy in spots; I was very cautious about my ankle, not wanting to aggravate the sprain that was healing nicely; The muscles in Caroline's back were bothering her, making it difficult to move in certain ways. Pu's and Caroline's headlmaps both had failures and were not working. So, it took us a long time to get from the summit to the end of our route. We arrived at Markus' car not long before 9pm. I was feeling particularly tired. I don't think I ate quite enough on this trip. Anyhow.... we were all back safe and sound. An interesting and challenging adventure, that's for sure!

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
 Image Gallery: January 2004 Rocky Peak Winter Traverse


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