Mt. Madison Backpack Pics 12/09/06 to 12/10/06

We started at Appalachia and hiked up Valley Way to the Valley Way tentsite. There was enough snow that it covered the rocks most of the time, but there were a couple slippery rocks here and there. Once we got to the tentsite, we packed down snow and set up our tents and continued onto Madison Hut. Since it was 2:40 by the time we reached the hut and sunset was around 4pm, we decided not to do Adams, but to do Madison. Then we summitted Madison. Most of the snow had blown off the rocks so crampons were not necessary (I barebooted it all the way to the summit). Stabilizers may have been useful. Just before the summit, I found myself trailbreaking through 4 feet of snow drifts, but then I just went on the rocks to left and continued onto the summit. We had some views, but Adams was in the clouds (so it was a good decision to do Madison). It was windy at the summit (my guess 30-40 mph). Then we continued down to the tents. We cooked some dinner and I got into our toasty warm sleeping bags for the night. It was faily warm that night (maybe in the teens), but it was windy. In my sleeping bag it was fine. The next morning, we had a light breakfast, then packed up and hiked down to the cars, and proceeded to diner where we enjoyed a heavy breakfast. Nice Backpack.

Everyone hiking up Valley Way