The final steep section was a bit slippery, but with yaktrax (and for some, crampons), we quickly made our way to the summit. The clouds had mostly cleared away by now, and it was a gloriously beautiful and warm day. It absolutely did not feel like the middle of January; rather, it felt quite a bit like warm, early May hike. Where has winter gone? Although this technically counted as my 30th winter 46er peak, I felt like I was cheating!
We ate lunch on the calm and warm summit, chatted with each other and with others with us on the summit (including a friendly father-son pair named Kyle and Ken. If you guys are reading this... hi again!)
We wanted to try and get home not too late, so after a generous stay on the summit, it was time to go. The steep descent off the summit required care, but everybody made it down without mishap, and soon we were on the easier grades. We elected to retrace our steps, rather than heading down to Johns Brook Valley directly and making a loop out of it. Doing so saved us distance (about 2km worth), time, and gave us more scenery (the lower route has no views).
As the afternoon wore on, the temperature rose further. By the time we got back to the Brothers, it was positively balmy. Almost all of the snow on the open rocks of the Brothers had melted away, making the steep scrambly bits much easier to descend, except for the few spots that were shaded from the sun. The yaktrax went back into the bag.
