BubbaZanetti
12-30-2009, 05:23 PM
i know this may sound downright blasphemous on a motorcycle forum, but something about the freezing cold overjoys me.
as i've probably complained about before, NYC has pretty wimpy weather, low snowfall totals, never gets much below 20 and well, it's a giant city, so things are always pretty accessible, even in times of a "weather emergency" (you know, like 11" of snow or the thermometer getting down to 19 degrees). so anyway, it's been WAY cold up in New England lately. yesterday was around -15 in central MA with 50 mph gusts, -25 last night. i got up this AM, round 6:30 or so and it was 3, probably -15 with the mild wind. i walked into the living room and said "dad, we're going climbing, right now" he looked at me, looked at the thermometer and looked back at me rather perplexed. "that's right dad, we're gonna go climb Mt Monadnock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Monadnock)"
now this isn't a particularly killer mountain in the summer months. a good family day hike with some mildly challenging sections, usually it can be done in about 4-6 hrs depending on skill and trail chosen. i'm fairly certain it's the most climbed mountain in America and only about 35 min from my parent's place, which happens to be located in the central MA tundra that extends into southern NH. after some hemming an hawing, my dad said "alright" and went to dig out his "winter clothes" an odd combo of hiking and hunting gear. while he was doing that, the weather man showed a map with a nice -20 current temp right on top of the mountain. my mom laughed and changed the channel before my dad saw it.
we got up to the mountain and the thermometer on the truck read 3, my dad rolled his eyes and we climbed out, put on our crampons, got out the ice axe and the treking poles with the summer rubber tips removed in favor of the ice stabbing metal end and began our ascent. easy going through the first mile or so, then the frozen ice rivers which run directly through the trails showed themselves. it was around this time my dad realized he'd lost a crampon, its strap had snapped. i offered him one of mine as i had better boots, but he declined and just avoided most of the ice by hiking around the trail. as we cleared the treeline we were greeted with stunning views, but also an amazingly vicious 35 mph wind at around 0 degrees outside temp. luckily, our effort expended climbing kept us warm and we were able to find shelter behind a rock face. we could see the top but my dad was happy with his hike. he pulled out a Cliff Bar and told me to go on, i said i'd be back in 15 and sprinted the last 1/3 of a mile to the top. out of breath i surveyed the horizon, noted the oddity of not seeing another soul on America's most climbed mountain and headed back down to my dad, making sure to fall into a 6 ft tall snow drift on the way. we met just a couple of solo climbers on the way back down and managed to actually find the lost crampon.
it was a great freezing day with my pops.:thumb
on top of (southern) new hampshire!
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0105/753336054_X75aW-M.jpg
watch out for that ice dad
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0102/753335987_gyMMY-M.jpg
a balmy twenty below
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0101/753335938_78zvi-M.jpg
as i've probably complained about before, NYC has pretty wimpy weather, low snowfall totals, never gets much below 20 and well, it's a giant city, so things are always pretty accessible, even in times of a "weather emergency" (you know, like 11" of snow or the thermometer getting down to 19 degrees). so anyway, it's been WAY cold up in New England lately. yesterday was around -15 in central MA with 50 mph gusts, -25 last night. i got up this AM, round 6:30 or so and it was 3, probably -15 with the mild wind. i walked into the living room and said "dad, we're going climbing, right now" he looked at me, looked at the thermometer and looked back at me rather perplexed. "that's right dad, we're gonna go climb Mt Monadnock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Monadnock)"
now this isn't a particularly killer mountain in the summer months. a good family day hike with some mildly challenging sections, usually it can be done in about 4-6 hrs depending on skill and trail chosen. i'm fairly certain it's the most climbed mountain in America and only about 35 min from my parent's place, which happens to be located in the central MA tundra that extends into southern NH. after some hemming an hawing, my dad said "alright" and went to dig out his "winter clothes" an odd combo of hiking and hunting gear. while he was doing that, the weather man showed a map with a nice -20 current temp right on top of the mountain. my mom laughed and changed the channel before my dad saw it.
we got up to the mountain and the thermometer on the truck read 3, my dad rolled his eyes and we climbed out, put on our crampons, got out the ice axe and the treking poles with the summer rubber tips removed in favor of the ice stabbing metal end and began our ascent. easy going through the first mile or so, then the frozen ice rivers which run directly through the trails showed themselves. it was around this time my dad realized he'd lost a crampon, its strap had snapped. i offered him one of mine as i had better boots, but he declined and just avoided most of the ice by hiking around the trail. as we cleared the treeline we were greeted with stunning views, but also an amazingly vicious 35 mph wind at around 0 degrees outside temp. luckily, our effort expended climbing kept us warm and we were able to find shelter behind a rock face. we could see the top but my dad was happy with his hike. he pulled out a Cliff Bar and told me to go on, i said i'd be back in 15 and sprinted the last 1/3 of a mile to the top. out of breath i surveyed the horizon, noted the oddity of not seeing another soul on America's most climbed mountain and headed back down to my dad, making sure to fall into a 6 ft tall snow drift on the way. we met just a couple of solo climbers on the way back down and managed to actually find the lost crampon.
it was a great freezing day with my pops.:thumb
on top of (southern) new hampshire!
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0105/753336054_X75aW-M.jpg
watch out for that ice dad
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0102/753335987_gyMMY-M.jpg
a balmy twenty below
http://bubbazanetti.smugmug.com/Family/chrismas-09/IMG0101/753335938_78zvi-M.jpg