A Plan!

As many of you know, I live in New England but am originally from the Portland, Oregon.  I spend a lot of time longing for the tall, snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but I'm stuck with these dinky little things instead.  Now, after 6 years of living here, I do finally like these dinky little hills for their own sake.  They have their own unique beauty, especially in the Fall, and the crunch of leaves under my feet as I walk through a deciduous forest brings back nostalgia for some wonderful hikes I've had on this coast.

That being said, the Appalachians...

(from Ismael Alonso's flickr)

...are not the Cascades.

(from Michael Lehenbauer's flickr)

In order to deal with this discrepancy, I have devised a cunning plan.  I shall take a small, well-hiked hill, Mount Monadnock:

(from Doug Kerr's flickr)

And then I will climb it in the winter!  And no, not like November or December.  It must be climbed in the January/February chills.

(from Tim D. at ecodiversity.com)

It's looking better already!

(from AMC Connecticut)

(from David Albeck)

I'm pretty excited.  This is one of the best hiking ideas I've had in a while.  Best part: as long as the weather's okay, you can get through this without much equipment.  I'll probably bring an ice axe and crampons, but that's mostly just so that I have an excuse to buy an ice axe and crampons.  You have to spend your REI dividend somewhere.

I've gotten a friend, Alex Khripin, to say he'd be up for climbing this in the winter.  See, Alex, now it's been published on a blog, it's official.

(By the way, go check out his blog at Unwholesome Foods.  It is fascinating and occasionally disgusting.)

After Monadnock in the winter, perhaps some winter camping is the next step?  Could I camp on a New England mountain in the winter?

(Monadnock photo, from Matthew Gemmell's flickr)

(And winter is coming.)