Captivating Consistency

Isn’t it usual to regard those who appear to see life in tones of either black or white as processing a fundamental flaw or at the very least intolerance? How many times have you been told that life cannot be summed up in such simple terms and that there are inevitable shades of grey?  On the annual winter sojourn to Mount Greylock, I discovered that there are occasions when this rule doesn’t necessarily apply, there are instances when ones outlook on life is polarized by a single shade and on this instance everything was white.

The trail was coved in white, at times to a depth of several feet, the vegetation was coated in white, the elevations were caked in a smooth slippery white, and if that wasn’t enough, the trail blazes were painted white!

Memories of past adventures still bring looks of incredulity. Ultra, a man who has a taste for taking on these daft endeavors from time to time, still shakes his head and says never again. This year though I decided to see for myself what it was all about and Snobody also came along for the ride. Together with Forrest, ET and his senorita, copious layers (but more about that later) and high hopes, we hit the trails.

To begin the going wasn’t too bad as we followed fresh snow shoe tracks. However, we soon caught the other hikers and then continued cutting fresh foot falls as we climbed. Our bodies warmed with the effort, it didn’t seem too bad and despite fresh snow that fell the previous day, the going was good. Then we started to climb steeper and steeper. An ice layer below the fresh snow started to reveal itself and on several occasions the person in front would set off a mini avalanche that made the going more slippery. We continued to climb Prospect and the frequency of our tumbles increased. From the top there were great views of the landscape below, after a brief photo call the advance continued.  As we shuffled along it was necessary to constantly duck and dive under low branches. This was an indication how high above the trail we were, without snow they would be well above our heads!

The climb up to Greylock was long. Forrest was leading most of this section and as I followed a few feet behind I started to notice small drops of blood on the trail. The distance between sightings wasn’t constant and I assumed that previous hikers may have had a dog with them that had a cut in one of its pads. At the summit we took a short break out of the wind in the shelter, there was an aroma of wood smoke from one of the stoves inside but no sensation of warmth, we didn’t stay long.

The journey home was, as you’d expect mostly downhill. Snobody got excited and started to run several sections until the toe of a snow shoe dug into the snow and he performed an ungraceful face plant! It was nice to be moving a little quicker though and the chill in our bodies from the higher elevations was less noticeable. Most of the way down was again on unbroken trails, it is a great feeling to snow shoe in fresh snow. Finally, back at the car it was too cold for celebration, after a few pictures of triumphant expressions; we piled into cars and headed home. After a brief interlude for brunch, I must confess to a short nap before we arrived back in Connecticut!

The adventure to Greylock had been captivating but from what I could see there weren’t any shades of grey about the experience!

Footnote (quite literally): the blood it turned out was Forrest. It seems his feet got so cold cold, he failed to notice the small matter of a blister develop on his heel until he removed his socks later that day!

Check out more pictures, here