Mount Greylock (Winter Summit)

And for our next winter summit, Victoria and I did Mount Greylock – Massachusett’s highest mountain.  We left Hartford at 7:20am and were hiking on the trail exactly 2 hours later. This was the coldest weather that we’ve hiked in so far. The temperature at the base of the mountain was 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 degree with wind chill), and the summit was forecast at 4 degrees (-20 with wind chill). We followed the same route up as last time, Roaring Brook to Hopper trail, and reached the summit in 3 hours 20 minutes (55 minutes stopped). We spent 25 minutes on top and ate Victoria’s delicious beef stew with some hot chocolate. It took us 1 hour and 30 minutes to descend (12 minutes stopped). Total distance of 7.9 miles with 2,400 feet elevation gain.

Bear Mountain (Winter Summit)

Victoria and I did our first winter summit – Bear Mountain, which is Connecticut’s highest peak (but not its highpoint). It took us an hour and half to summit (10 minutes stopped), and 1 hour 5 minutes to descend (7 minutes stopped). The weather was nice with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s (f), with about a 15mph wind on top. Mostly sunny. About 2 inches of snow and ice all the way up. Total distance of 5.4 miles with 1,600 feet elevation gain.