February 1, 2009 Snow Disappears

OLD RAG SHELTER SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2009
AT THE ENDS OF THE SADDLE TRAIL AND OLD RAG FIRE ROAD

I was still fighting a little bit of a virus so I only did an up and back to the Old Rag Shelter via the fire roads. What a difference a day makes. Both Saturday and Sunday were mostly clear and sunny but Saturday was in the thirties and Sunday got to almost sixty. The fire road in today's picture was completely covered in ice and snow the day before. Around 80 hikers on the mountain today. On my way out I arrived in the very dim moonlight at the upper lot at around 17:00. Four hikers who had just made it out on the Ridge Trail without lights reported that there were two other hikers behind them up on the icy Ridge Trail in the dark without lights. I went up the Ridge Trail and found the two hikers about a quarter mile up the trail coming down using the dim moonlight. I believe all the hikers without lights had been caught off guard by the time the slippery trail consumed. Even with the help of my light one of the hikers tripped on a rock resulting in a bad bone bruising just a few hundred feet from the parking lot.

PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE

OLD RAG can be significantly colder windier and icier than the coastal plains. When there is ice and snow on Old Rag's trails you are going to be slowed significantly from your normal hiking times. A slip that causes a minor injury may slow you down even more. If a slip causes a member of your party to be non-ambulatory and they are high on the mountain it may take ten to fifteen hours to get them out. Remember that time you left the cold windy summit quickly because your body was getting chilled from not moving vigorously. Imagine if you could not move vigourously for hours. Best to come prepared with lights and enough equipment in your group to keep someone warm if they become injuried. Some cell phones will work high on the mountain but almost none work when low on the mountain. The Old Rag lower lot's fee station has an emergency phone but it could take hours for someone to hike to the phone and hours more for first responders to get back to the victim. Temperatures and winds can change quickly on the mountain. Unlike during the warmer seasons a forced bivouac on the mountain with nothing but light clothing may prove lethal.