AT trip last weekend......

[Chris_Asheville]

AT - Smoky Mountains update.

Some friends and myself started at Newfound gap on Friday, around 4:20 in the afternoon. Two of us made it to Peck's Corner that night, while the other two had to set up camp on the middle of the trail about 2.5 miles back. From about one mile in, the trail went from rocky to huge slabs of ice nearly two feet thick. We were lucky to be hiking through 4-12" of snow, it made the iced trail passable.
The temps Friday night at Peck's were in the low single-digits. When we woke at 7, the temp. was eight degrees.
From Peck's to Tri-corner, the trail was still covered with snow, some drifts over two feet on the side of the trail. We stayed at Tri-Corner (by the way, if you haven't been to this shelter, I would highly recommend) and dove down to Laurel Gap and Cataloochee on Sunday. The entire trip was about 31 miles.
Everyone missed a cooooold weekend. The weather, other than the temp. was prefect, sunny, zero clouds.

[Ewker]

nice report, glad everyone had a good time..Any pics

[Chris_Asheville]

Pics will be up this afternoon.~!

[orangebug]

What do you think about the advice regarding footware last week?

[Chris_Asheville]

What was the advice? I'm sorry, I don't remember the conversation..

[khaynie]

Probably crampons...did you take any? If so, how did they work?

[Chris_Asheville]

Ahhhhh, crampons..
I was running out of time and picked up the Yaxtrax from Dick's. They were $30, secured around the foot well and had a strap on top to keep them in place. They worked great for nine miles Friday night and about four on Sat. before one of the rubber straps on the bottom broke. By Sunday, they were a mangled mess. I had to take them off. As far as crampons being needed, I would say yes. I have two in my party who didn't wear them and they were having a lot of trouble in the icy sections. If it weren't for the snow covering most of the ice, it would have been nearly impassable. The snow provided traction and the ability to keep moving. I think the crampons were a huge help!