Since I work in Longmont and do not get out of work until 4pm, for the past ~2 months I have only been able to squeeze in a trip up Sanitas, with it getting dark on me toward the end for a few weeks. Today I decided to see if I could squeeze in a trip up Green. Since it gets dark around 5:30, I knew it would be tight, especially with the dog and with crappy trail conditions.
We started up the Amphitheater Trail at 4:22pm. The trail was ice and slush, then lots of rock with hard patches of ice. I kept the microspikes on, but they were not ideal with all the rock, but there was too much snow and ice to go without. As I neared saddle rock, the trail became more consistently covered with snow and it was easier going. I was going moderate and aside from a few momentary pauses to encourage Sierra and make sure she was still there, I felt as though I was making pretty good time with minimal effort. My legs were a little heavy, but my lungs felt as though I was hardly working.
I made the summit at 5pm, took ~2 minutes to pee and check out the views and was encouraged by how light it was. I made good time on some of the upper trail, but was soon tip-toeing around rocks and Sierra was starting to lag.
By the time I got down past Saddle rock, it seemed as though somebody flicked off a light switch and it got really dark fast. I had a headlamp and a cheapy flashlight which helped marginally, but really just seemed to be absorbed and it was hard to pick out ice from rock from log. This is where conditions really sucked the worst, as it was lousy having traction, but would have been really dangerous without.
Finished at 5:30 on the dot.
38:46 up
28 down
