The First Shakedown

On November 24th Matt and I headed out to Mt. Princeton. The road had just enough powder to make travel too risky. Therefore, we used the winter parking at Frontier Ranch (8,900 ft.), packed our Wal-Mart "Mega Sleds," and headed up the road. We started later than planned, and we knew that daylight would be short.


The "Mega Sleds" proved to be a bit unruly. They would not track as I expected, and the positioning of gear in the sled was a challenge. Matt's sled experienced rollover, and mine insisted on heading left even when the trail turned right. Here it is turning uncharacteristically right!







As it neared dark and the sun slipped behind the ridge, the temperature dropped sharply. We decided to make camp on a flat spot along the road at around 11,300 feet. The temperature outside fell below zero but stayed at about 26 degrees in the tent. The morning sun warmed us as we ate and packed up.










We packed our sleds hoping to be able to ride them down. Alas, the sleds would not cooperate, so we had to walk down dragging our sleds.










We did not reach our goal of the summit, but we are just starting our training and gear testing. We should be back out in a few weeks. This time, Atlantic Peak will be our objective.