ricker 3400, take 2

i was going to tell you yesterday about my second trip up ricker, but i got as far as showing you my gear and realized it was a long enough post the way it was and i decided it was just as well to tell the story of what happened separate from what i carried.

before i got all suited up to leave the house i made a little trip plan and posted it to google docs so that my friends had that information handy in the even of an emergency. it is a practice i recommend, especially for people who travel alone.

so i got up to the mountain with all my stuff packed and i wasn't in a big fat hurry because the number one chair doesn't open before ten. because it's a weekend they have the parking lot people who help load and unload the cars and i sort of have a rule about not bringing more gear than i can carry in one trip but holly and victoria are very nice and help me unload my bags and we make some chitchat about my plans and i leave the loading area to go park my car in the lot.

and when i get back up to my gear, holly and victoria help me carry it all up to the lodge which is totally unnecessary, but very sweet and a classy touch.

once i got all booted up i went up the hill to get into my skis so i could wave at my internet friends on the webcam, a thing i like to do sometimes, and i headed down to the number one chair since it was five to ten.

five to ten is not the same as ten, so the chair is not loading yet but a line is forming and because there's a line i'm a little nervous about getting on the chair with my big pack because if you miss the chair or drop something they have to slow or stop the chair and that makes people cranky.

once at the top, you have to figure how to do a graceful dismount for similar reasons.

i sat on the handy bench at the top to change boots and put on my gaiters and while i was there a ski patrol guy came to check out my plans. they don't patrol the area where i was going, but as he said there was a "little tension" about people heading off into the backcountry because last week a couple from virginia got lost on the backside wearing SHORTS and had to spend a night up there before their very expensive rescue.

it didn't take a very long conversation for him to understand my travel plan and the appropriateness of my gear and he wished me a happy day.

so i went on up. i left my skis in the snow behing the bench but decided to carry my ski boots just to keep them protected, even though they were dead weight. for a lot of the way i followed track made buy a snowboarder who had walked up the day before and ridden down, and then above the place where those tracks ended, i was kind of following track someone (probably on snowshoes) had made last week. the tracks were all covered in but i could see someone had passed, so at least that told me the way was passable.

i was not surprised at the summit not to find the cache.

and eventually i just reached the point int eh day where the only smart thing to do is quit looking and come down the mountain.

here's the map of the route, with some pictures:

ricker 3400 take 2

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Vermont

and here's a map that shows both this approach and the southern approach:

two ways up ricker

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Vermont

and of course, the photos:




and the video: