January 30, 2022
Start/End: Stratton Mountain Trailhead
Miles: 7.26
Elevation gain: 2100′
I woke up at 5am, and started driving at 5:30, arriving at the trailhead by 7:45am. I prepped my pack, put on all my layers, and headed out. There were two cars in the lot already – one with snowshoe tracks heading up the trail and the other was a skiier sleeping in his truck, emerging just as I was leaving.
The trail up to the summit was steady and smooth. While there was ~4 inches of fresh powder, the trail underneath was a solidly packed surface so it wasn’t hard to break trail. I caught up to the first person about halfway and made remarkably good time to the summit, arriving by 9:40am. I took off my snowshoes to scurry up the tower for some photos and the windchill was fierce. The tower was shaking in the wind, which was somewhat unnerving; I didn’t linger long and quickly headed back down the trail.
I made it back to the parking lot by 11am or so, where I removed my layers, set up my gloves and hat to dry on the dashboard, and drapped my jacket over the passenger seat, and then started driving the 1.5 hours to the Pico trailhead.
