Sawteeth, Gothics, and Armstrong

December 31, 2014

Debbie, Andy, Emily, and I hiked down Lake Road under headlamp early in the morning. Joining us at the start were Sharon, Don, and Paul who were heading in the same way to climb Sawteeth via the scenic route. Lake Road flew by in the first hour with the microspikes on, Andy and Emily slipping a bit with one foot each as they were sharing a single pair between the two of them. A light dusting of new snow over the icy bits while climbing the scenic trail meant you had to watch your step over the the various boulders and tree roots as the trail bounced up and down along the lake edge. The Sawteeth-only team was starting to fall behind, so we decided to say goodbye and speed ahead when the trail began to climb, as we had a longer day ahead of us. We took a quick break on the false summit of Sawteeth before pushing on to the top. The cold wind and negative double digit temperatures kept our stay on the summit fairly brief, after which we began the steep descent down to the Pyramid col. This was our bail out point, but everyone wanted to push on so we started up the mountain. It started to get icy, especially for the single microspike wearing couple, so we decided to switch to crampons before a particularily steep pitch. Well all of us, except for Debbie that is, whose ancestry must include a bit of mountain goat somewhere in her family tree. The pons made things easier and more fun too, as we could now tackle the ice scrambles head on. The summit of Pyramid gave great views of the south face of Gothics and the rest of the Great Range. Again, it was too cold to stop for long, so after a couple of photographs we continued on down a steep and icy trail. The ridge of Gothics always fails to disappoint with the spectacular view and "real mountain" feeling. Another brief cold summit with a couple more photos of the amazing panarama and we were pushing on downwards to the Armstrong col, where we dug in the snow for a sandwich and hot tea. Here we met Sporty Spice from the forum and chatted for a bit. Since the hour was still reasonable and the group feeling strong, we decided to push on and tag the summit of Armstrong. This was a quick scamper of about 1 km with a couple of good ice scrambles thrown in to keep things interesting. Another quick summit and then the long descent back into the Ausable River valley. At 3000' crampons became more of a hinderance then help so our aching knees were happy to switch back into spikes. Debbie scampered ahead, and Andy butt slid most of the icy and rocky trail, while Emily and I took the rear and mental stock of our first aid supplies. Fortunately we got down without mishap despite Andy's best effort, and took a final break at the base of Beaver Meadow Falls before the long slog out Lake Road. We arrived back at the parking lot after a 10-1/2 hour day, hiking the last stretch with a group of excited young children who told us all about the scary bridge they had to hike across during their adventure. Three more winter peaks brings me to 27/46.

Crossing the Ausable River.

A lookout along the scenic trail, high above Lower Ausable Lake.

Andy leading the charge up to another lookout on the scenic trail.

Emily demonstrating proper boot/axe climbing technique with a single microspike. For some reason this method does not get covered in Freedom of the Hills.