Peak #10 is in the bag.

It took tremendous work.

My route today followed my usual friend, the AT, up to the summit of Greylock. The trail is also shared with the Thunderbolt Ski Trail for the last half mile or so (which is excruciatingly uphill). The round trip total for the day was about 12.5 miles. The first three were entirely up hill in the snow. And most of the rest of the way up was also uphill. And in the snow. Footing was challenging, translating to slow progress.

I got started around 10:45 AM, a little later than usual.

Highlights on the way up? I made some friends (father/son team) from PA that were heading to the summit. I passed them on the way up, chatted a bit, and then passed them on my return when they were a little ways from the summit. I am hoping they were able to make it back before dark, because it was going to be close. I saw numerous deer prints in the snow, and what I firmly believe to be bear tracks as well! They were not huge prints, but were fresh and too big to be any other animal I can think of. The other highlight is I made it to the top!

It was rather difficult though. The weather was in the mid 30’s but I spent a large portion of the route in a t-shirt and without hat or gloves. Once I got nearer the top of Mass, sweater and jacket became necessary again due to falling temperatures and more direct wind.

The ascent was quiet. The only sound you really hear are ice-cycles falling from trees. I fervently hoped they wouldn’t fall and cut me or knock me unconscious. No problems from that standpoint!

Microspikes were helpful again today, though perhaps not critical. I definitely moved with confidence in them on the icy terrain.

As the summit was approached, it got foggy. Er. It was always foggy. But it became more foggy. And cold looking.

The top of Greylock is crowned with a monument. I snapped a few photos to capture my 10th high peak since October 24th (just over 2 months). 20 percent done! Only 40 more peaks to go!

And the astonishing view of the surrounding mountains…

Oh you want to see my version?

Breathtaking! Well, that was more the climb. No views for the second straight day. Since there is a road to the top of the summit, I hope to return on some future trip when the weather is better to see what I missed. In the meantime, I was happy to enjoy a nice walk through the snowy woods and to reach the summit of yet another New England Peak and state highpoint.

Now the descent which is alway fun. I took a quick break in the shelter/house that has been built atop the mountain. It has a wood burning stove but there was no wood-a-burning. So I had a quick snack and gulped down some water and headed back down.

I turned around from the summit around 1:45 PM. That means my ascent was roughly 3 hours (in fact thats exactly what it was when you count my brief break at the top). I now had 2:30 hours to make it back to the car before dark set in, in which case route finding would have become rather challenging.

Fortunately, I was able to do a sort of standing glissade (which is like skiing without skis) down much of the mountain. I used my trekking poles to bounce around/over rocks and other obstacles. I was back at the car well before dark and on to my next task.

The celebratory beer for the day was Jack’s Abbey Kiwi Rising, which is a hoppy lager from Mass. It was pretty good. I met a guy at the bar last night that suggested an app to me called Untappd. I’m rating my beers there, so if you are into beer, friend me (brianchambers21) and check out the list. I gave this one 3.5 stars.

On to my hotel. Its a cutesy New England style hotel. There were people skiing and sledding behind cars in the parking lot (in fact they are still going right now). Crazy!

More to come tomorrow afternoon!