The good herdpath led efficiently and uneventfully to a point along the East Dix-South Dix ridge herdpath, not far from the summit of East Dix. The snow depth up here at nearly 4000 feet was deeper, and combined with some drifts from an older snowfall, it was distinctively more wintry feeling up here. Enough that Brian and I cursed ourselves for forgetting to bring our traction aids. Harold, wisely, had his Yaktrax with him.
We turned left at the ridgecrest herdpath and climbed the last hundred or so feet to East Dix (a.k.a. Grace Peak)'s most excellent summit, where Brian celebrated his 43rd and Harold celebrated his 45th Adirondack 46R peak, respectively. The viewing conditions were excellent, with clear views east towards Lake Champlain and west towards the rest of the Dix Range.
It was near noon, so we took a lunch break along with our photo and congratulations stop. Then, realizing we had a fair bit more ground to cover before the end of the day, we headed off west towards our next objective: South Dix (a.k.a. Carson Peak).
After about 55 minutes along a lightly snow-covered herdpath (with only a few minor tricky icy spots), we arrived at South Dix's summit. In the 46R count race, Brian caught up a little [to Harold] on South Dix, with this being his 44th peak and with this being a repeat for Harold.
The beauty of South Dix is not its summit. Rather, it is its south-western ridge just below the summit, which is extensively open. From nearly the summit all the way down to the col between it and Macomb, it is beautiful open bedrock. Fortunately for us, this was part of our route over to Macomb.
We soon reached the col between South Dix and Macomb, and started our climb to the summit. A well-defined herdpath (well-tracked with a school group that we passed on the South Dix's open ridge) led upwards, climbing in a fairly stout 600 feet of elevation gain to Macomb's summit.
We closed ranks and stayed together just before the top, arriving all together so as to take part in Harold's moment. He had now done it -- this was his 46th peak, achieved at approximately 2:10pm, Saturday, October 23, 2010. Congratulations on a job well done, Harold!
State of Trail above 4k feet
I had brought with me an unused official ADK 46R patch from home, and in celebration, I took it out and ceremoniously handed it to Harold.
