The trip starts out on the
Tuckerman Ravine trail, which is groomed by the
snow cat and makes for fast travel. After about 45 minutes we were
hiking in the sun and getting views of the
terrain to come. Things had warmed up a bit
and we had taken off some layers. The new winter Lion Head route
starts on the Huntington Fire Road, where we
put on crampons. We ran into some climbers who
were staying at the Harvard Cabin and they seemed a little depressed
to be headed out on such a fine day.
After a short, flat section, the winter Lion Head route starts to
climb in a big way. There were some sections
that required
front-pointing, and made me wonder about the trip back
down. Very soon, we began getting views to the east, of the
Carters and
Wildcat range. At one point we got a good view
of the Harvard Cabin and the Huntington Ravine
Fire road.
The weather was perfect for our hike, sunny and warm. From here on up, there were views everywhere you looked. Around 10:30 we reached the Alpine Zone sign and took a rest with water and gorp. We started getting clear views of the summit cone and across Tuckerman Ravine towards Boott Spur. Kathy noticed a lone hiker below us, who was catching up. All along the hike we had seen the tracks of two more people ahead of us but we never caught sight of them.
In about 30 minutes from treeline we got to the top of Lion Head, a
rocky outcropping on the right side of Tuckerman Ravine. Last year,
someone fell to their death from this spot while chasing their
sunglasses too close to the edge. The views of
Hillman's Highway and
Tuckerman Ravine took my breath away. I'd seen
pictures of the ravine like this, but this was different. Everything
was crystal clear, still, and quiet.
The hiker we had seen below us caught up to us on Lion Head. His name
was Bill, and, yes he was solo hiking. We all thought it was a good
idea to join forces for the rest of the journey.
Since we now had an extra set of hands, we took a picture of
Kathy and I on the top of Lion Head. The trail
has a flat section, then after the Alpine Garden trail junction begins
to climb a snowfield. This climb bought us views
of the area above Tuckerman Ravine, a view that
makes you wonder about Tony Matts, who schussed the headwall during the
1937 Inferno Race.
One more photo stop and we were at the summit! The view of Boott Spur looked like arctic tundra. I took one photo of Kathy and Bill at the trail sign to use up my last shot and then changed film.
