billysinc
02-18-2008, 03:36 PM
After looking at the forecast for Saturday we decided to head up and do the Osceola's. We figured it might be cold but at least the wind wouldn't be hammering us.
We were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful day we had. While Franconia ridge and the Presi's had their little cloud hats on we were bathed in crystal clear sky's that seemed to go on forever.
The Greeley Ponds section was a great way to get the muscles warmed up for the steep climb ahead. The Osceola trail was easy to follow, you could see the depression of where the trail was and someone had bare booted in the day or so prior. We just had to deal with the few inches of fresh powder that had fallen overnight.
When we got to the first slide crossing the view we were rewarded with was worth the trip even if we didn't continue on. The temps which were expected to be below zero tended to hover around 10 degrees and because of the SE direction of the trail there was no wind.
We continued up to the top of East Osceola and had a quick lunch break and took in the views. From there it was down to the col and up the chimney. We decided to go up the chimney as opposed to the bypass. We could have put on the crampons but the trail had enough fresh snow that we were able to just kick steps in and go up. We continued up and topped out on Osceola around 2:00.
The trip down from East Osceola was a quick one as we glissaded some of the steeper sections.
We managed to get off the mountain and over to Elvios before the Apres-ski crowd filed in.
Some pix here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/engineczar/Osceola2008
We were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful day we had. While Franconia ridge and the Presi's had their little cloud hats on we were bathed in crystal clear sky's that seemed to go on forever.
The Greeley Ponds section was a great way to get the muscles warmed up for the steep climb ahead. The Osceola trail was easy to follow, you could see the depression of where the trail was and someone had bare booted in the day or so prior. We just had to deal with the few inches of fresh powder that had fallen overnight.
When we got to the first slide crossing the view we were rewarded with was worth the trip even if we didn't continue on. The temps which were expected to be below zero tended to hover around 10 degrees and because of the SE direction of the trail there was no wind.
We continued up to the top of East Osceola and had a quick lunch break and took in the views. From there it was down to the col and up the chimney. We decided to go up the chimney as opposed to the bypass. We could have put on the crampons but the trail had enough fresh snow that we were able to just kick steps in and go up. We continued up and topped out on Osceola around 2:00.
The trip down from East Osceola was a quick one as we glissaded some of the steeper sections.
We managed to get off the mountain and over to Elvios before the Apres-ski crowd filed in.
Some pix here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/engineczar/Osceola2008