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Algonquin
(peak 12, winter peak 2)

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You can't wait any longer in February! It's the 29th (leap year, not too much beer) and Charlie and I are headed for the hills again. We have grand plans for capturing Algonquin and Iroquois. Made Algonquin and promptly forgot about Iroquois. Algonquin is a big mountain!

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Here's the approach after leaving the main road. Algonquin is visible with Wright just in front to the left, and Mt Joe front and center and completely dwarfed, just barely rising above the trees.

This was one of those eventful trips. On the way up I counted at least 5 senior moments where I forgot everything but my name - to be capped off by the realization, in the parking lot, that I had forgotten my winter boots.

Because it was warmish (30 deg F) and because I had water proof (summer) hiking boots, we opted to continue on our way. Intrepid explorers are we. I had cold feet at only one point in the trip - just before summitting, and this was quickly over come when we were on our way back down and moving quicker again. We went forward with the knowledge that we would turn back. (Yea, right.)

On the way up, right at the trail junction with Wright, we heard a 'hoot' from someone coming down the trail quick, and stepped out of the way just in time to see 2 people slide by on tiny little special purpose inner tubes! These were 'professional' butt sliders. More on butt sliding later.

Summit was 'knock you over' windy, and then all of a sudden there was calm. We got great pictures on the summit, and spent a fwe minutes in the shelter of some boulder on the eastern face, overlooking Avalanche pass.

Descent is a story of it's own. There's one big - HUGE slide that is straight and steep. Charlie went down first (slid - we consider it trail grooming. Others call it butt sliding, and find it offensive). He fired up the video camera, and yelled to me that it was safe to come down. I started down, maintaining reasonable control, until I went past Charlie, doing 15-20 mph. Just past Charlie around the bend (still doing 15-20 mph) I encountered a group of 4 very surprised hikers. I lost count of the number of barrel rolls I did (with snowshoes, with poles) manuevering artfully to avoid collisions, all the while listening to commentary from hiker #4 furthest down the trail. He maintained a calm voice and offered Olympic style commentary on every tumble and spin as I whizzed out of control past him too.

Fortunately the pine trees at this part of the trail are sturdy, capable of breaking my momentum easily. I pulled 2 branches out of my ribs, and unpacked the snow from my glasses and called back up the trail that I was, in fact, still alive.

Charlie had a near miss of his own, but you'll need to read his trip report to get the whole story.

A good time was had by all.