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Jan. 4, 2006 (Wed.)
Elevations: 4620 feet, 4020 feet; Order of Height: 13, 41
Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes
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Last week's abject failure on Dial could not be let standing. It was time to take a deep breath and try it again.

We walked very briskly up the Lake Road and reached the turnoff to the Gill Brook trail in no time. The route up Gill Brook was scenic, with lots of frozen and semi-frozen cascades and other water features along the way. Blowdown along this trail all the way up to Elk Pass was fairly minimal. Weather was perfect - still clear, no wind. not too warm nor cold.

The steep ascent up to Nippletop from Elk Pass was in good shape - again minimal blowdown and a good track. The summit presented an excellent view (my first time up here not in the clouds), especially towards the Great Range.

The track over to Dial was not as well-set but was still a help over breaking a new trail. Blowdown along the ridge to Dial was minimal. A quick stop at Dial's summit's excellent lookout rock, and then we were off - we could see the weather changing from bright blue to dark slate grey! bad weather on the way.

The stretch from Dial, and over Bear den was through the same messy blowdown that had halted us the week before. This time we had tracks to follow, and we knew the extent of the blowdown, so things went fairly uneventfully.

Quickening our pace with the approaching bad weather, we motored through the burn area, down to the road, and made it back to the entrance gate just as the first few ice pellets started raining down from the sky. Squeaked this one through just in time!

(for a more detailed trip writeup and lots of pictures, click on the image gallery link below)

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
 Image Gallery: January 2006 Nippletop-Dial Mountain Hike


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