6/24/01
Trip 2 to Mount Osceola 4340 and East Osceola 4156
8.4 miles 2400 Elevation gain
Kevin, Judy and Emma
Jeannie and Jerry
We decided to do these peaks again for Emma. Obviously were getting serious about getting Emma through her mountains as this is our third return trip together, Liberty first then Lafayette being the second, (I previously returned to Jefferson for Emma and Madison for Jude and Emma),to get her mountains. We invited Jeannie along so she could bring Jerry who was new to climbing (but runs). Our feeling was that these were easily obtainable peaks and would be a good climb for Jerry to start on, also, after climbing Waumbek and Galehead four and five days previously, we wanted to take it easy. It was overcast as we started out without Jeannie and Jerry who we thought probably didnt show because of the weather. There was a wet mist as we climbed. We soon found ourselves on the many switchbacks and found the climb seemed much easier than our first ascent. From the cliffs on the summit we could see down into Waterville Valley a little bit, the sun was even out down there, but the summit was so fogged in you couldnt even see over to East Osceola. On the way back from East Osceola we ran into Jeannie and Jerry just coming over from Mount Osceola, we agreed to meet back on the cliff of Mount Osceola. Between mountains there is a pretty good chimney you have to scramble up and down to go between mountains. Definetly a place to be very careful as a fall here could really mess up your day. It was starting to get a little slippery from the mist and I can only imagine what it would be like in real rain, very treacherous for sure, so take note. Here we found a group from AMC on a day hike having some fun climbing up and down the chimney. Back on the cliff were the rest of the AMCers and I talked to the group leader for a while. I could live with a job like that. We soon saw Jeannie and Jerry and had a drink and some snacks before heading back down together. Jeannie I already knew could beat me bad at climbing but always let me do the leading, and after one hike I knew Jerry could whip me out there, too. Runners! Do they have to be in such good shape? |