To celebrate the coming of Spring at 11:32am this morning, Allison, Sierra and I met up with Brandon for a trip up Green. As we were starting, Tony jogged by and we chatted with him for a moment and he was on his way.
Brandon and I got ahead of Allison through Gregory, planning to meet up either at the summit, or on our way down. We jogged some and walked a bunch, as it seemed almost pointless trying to run in the fresh, unconsolidated snow, just cruising (read slogging) along at conversational pace.
As expected, the depth of the snow increased as we got higher and the track ahead of us was reduced to one person (two if you count Brandon who I made go first). The snow went from shin deep, to knee deep, to mid thigh and even waist deep if you stepped off the trail. Certainly the most snow we have had all season.
Above the 4-way (which we reached after 1:01), we were surprised to have Tony catch up with us, as he had opted to run the upper half of Flagstaff, then West Ridge. I think we made the top in about 1:09 and spent a little while chatting, taking in the views and enjoying the warmish sun.
We ran back down and bumped into Sierra, then Allison coming up the switchbacks below the 4-way. I said my goodbyes to Brandon and Tony and headed back up with Allison. I was happy to have the pack full of extra hat/gloves and the jacket tied around my waist, as it got much colder as my effort decreased and my wet clothes froze up.
After another 10 minute break on Green, we headed back down and we were pretty cold and I sure was glad to have pants on. I think Brandon and Tony were envious, as they were wearing short running shorts and dressed for summer, even though temps were in the low teens earlier in the morning. I think I even heard Tony mutter something about wishing he had worn tights for all the postholing he did on West Ridge.
It ended up being almost a 3 hour day and we were of course over-dressed and hot descending through Gregory Canyon. Despite the slow conditions, it was an awesome day out with great company. Funny how I never get sick of this peak, always a new experience.
