
| Parked at Lafayette Campground. Walked (nervously at first) over the spectacularly frozen Lonesome Lake, and proceeded up the Fishin' Jimmy Trail. We'd planned to stop for lunch at the Kinsman Pond shelter, which turned out to be largely swamped with snowdrifts and provided no shelter whatsoever from the biting cold or the bitter wind. We set up the stove on the bank of the pond instead, in order to benefit from the sunlight. Somebody had brought a can of condensed soup but no pot to cook it in. We tried to heat it directly in the can, succeeding only in creating a nauseating, slimy, cold but half-burnt mess which nobody even considered swallowing. Frozen Clif bars to the rescue!
After tagging the North Kinsman summit, we took the Ridge Trail over the Cannon Balls, a real roller coaster ride made fun but strenuous by three feet of virgin powder (the other trails had been fairly well trampled, especially the A.T.). Swimming uphill and then skiing downhill (the crampon-like metal prongs on our snowshoes proving no impediment). Repeat. Repeat. So tired by the end that we just wanted to lie down in a snowdrift and stay there.
Most-valued piece of equipment: a small flask of rhum proved a valuable weapon against the biting cold on North Kinsman. |