1-1-13 Mount Mansfield and a New Year

I decided not to produce a lengthy post for this one.  I chose to climb Mount Mansfield as a way to bring in the new year.  It seemed fitting.  Given the dangers of doing it solo I recruited Craig to join me.  The weather was going to be partially cloudy but the windchill was forecasted to bring the temp down to -30 degrees.  A hard hike and as we drove up the peak was hidden in clouds so not a great chance of a view.  That proved to be only partially incorrect. 

 Craig, on the trail and having fun.  He hadn't spend as much time on snowshoes as I have but he had a great time in the snow.

 Winds had obscured the trail with blown snow, we were the first up so we were breaking trial, and sometimes loosing it and guessing where we needed to go.  The snow was probably 7 feet deep but for the most part we weren't sinking in.  Only occasionally would it drop and we would be up to our waist in snow and had to crawl out.

 This is after three hours of climbing.  The summit was obscured but I knew it was another half mile or more and we both agreed to turn around. The next bit was steep and exposed.  Not so bad going up but coming back down in fog and not sliding off the side of a cliff seemed like a real danger.  Especially with no trail to follow.

 It was a good choice to turn around, and I got to play with my phone taking amazing panoramas.  The view went in and out of being obscured and the other mountains would appear and disappear.  It was beautiful.

 Just amazing to see, almost ethereal.  The sun would break through sporadically and create vistas like this:

 And then the clouds would roll in again turning everything grey.

There was one point where we had blue sky and I got to take this picture.  The lake was still obscured and you can't see New York at all but still, what a view.

 There was one final moment where the sun cut through all the snow encrusted trees and I got this amazing shot.  I was really happy with the pictures I took.

In the end it was an awesome way to bring in the New Year, summit or not. It felt right, or I should say Right with the capitol r.  The last year had had its share of challenges, I started it in a pretty bad place and I feel a lot healthier, happier and complete than I have in a while.  I feel... capable.  So onwards and upwards to the next set of challenges and failures and life lived to its fullest.