Madison Gear Test: Success

We took the magnificent Howker Ridge trail up to what turned out to be very mild conditions on Madison. Things were a little wet and windy but we were all dressed for it and to be honest it seemed like almost a 'nothing' of a hike. Of course 20° colder and we would've been challeged. And now for some trip reports as they trickle in from our correspondents in the field (note to readers: I have edited out a string of expletives from tMail that referenced the thugs who stole MadDog's lunch money and what he thought should happen to them. I don't normally do this, but reading tMail's wrath made my nose bleed and I thought it best to look out for the team).

The reports:

Mutha's Report:
There's a redneck element in Randolph, NH that so surpasses the normal concept of 'redneck' that it makes me appreciate just who McCain and Palin were pandering to. This guy really, truly, actually believes that Obama is going to make us all wear turbans. Literally.

The PM delivered: a new great phrase ("putting on the feathers") and a great new joke ("What's the difference between ... [edited for brevity]... retarded").

tMail lead the charge and reminisced with me on Madison about this.

g-$$$ issued not a single war-whoop. Safety first!

MadDog did his 'yellow comet' routine and disappeared into the mist and driving rain down the Durand ridge. I thought the yellow shading on the map indicated 'above treeline' but actually it's supersonic maddog trails.

Dorigan: good to have him with us. The guy's wheels can churn. My feeling is he'll be moving to the north country within two years. Chickens and bunnies. Good for the soul.

A personal note about me and MadDog: We be an retarded. On the way to Randolph we noted we needed gas. We forgot to get gas. On the way home, we thought that in addition to having his money stolen, the thugs stole his gas. We got gas. Then we forgot we got gas, and thought we should get gas - except the gauge showed we magically had lots of it! The thugs must've stolen the money and bought gas! Then we had dinner at The Miss Lyndonville Diner. I ordered a hot chocolate, which was lukewarm. Sent it back to be reheated. MadDog ordered a hot chocolate, same deal. The thugs must've stolen our heat! Those fuckers.

tMail's Report:
Picked up Dorigan and PM at 5.30am picked up G$$$ around 5.50am. Arrived at the gas station passed the intersection with 302 and 3 and was told about 100 times by the owner "its gonna rain" "its gonna rain" "its comming" "you boys gonna get wet". [Link To tMail's Pics]

1. Helly Hansen beanie hat awesome hat dried instantly.
2. Pack cover did the job as well as dry bags.
3. Only thing that stayed dry...feet...Boots rocked as did darn tough wool socks.
4. If temperatures dropped we would have been icicles. Photo Credit: tMail
   
5. Madison you piece of rock rubble piece of Shit.
6. Adams save you for another day.
7. To the guy with the Rifle 6 people 2 of which are 7 feet tall can't fit in 1 car.
8. Gordon Allen / Allen Gordon which is it....the army can't call you G. Allen why not?
9. When he said he "has lots of black friends" did he mean black bears?
10. Any piece of Candy in Lowes store was from the Great Depression
11. To the pieces of shit that smashed MDs window I will give you $500.00 dollars if you state your name or names on this blog and state the color of the car.
12. We pumped some black gold in Hookset at $1.99
13. Great day...get the dates posted for a Winter Traverse...

MadDog's Report:

1. It was nice to see the gang together and have those familiar experiences for all the senses: smells like garlic moose pepperoni, sounds of people slipping and yelping, and sights like $6.2m in technical apparel.
2. Great to meet Jeff. Hope we see him again and that Tmail gets a decent bonus this year (Tmail made me say that).
3. Note to self, if you see a guy in a lineman's weather outfit, and his name is Will “heShootOrNot” Marsden, don't look like you Photo Credit: tMail
   just broke into the vehicle you're standing next to.
4. Randolph douche bags can kiss my gl-ASS.
5. It's always an adventure (and entertaining) to do the ride with Mutha to get to the trail head. But sort of impossible to make it on time.
6. It was a perfectly sized day and hike – distance and time. Kudos to the chief planning commission for today's route selection.
7. Learning #41 – Morton's fisherman gear does not cross-over (comfortably and not without moisture management issues) into hiking applications. It was like being in a Finnish sauna. Hey, what's wrong with that???

The PM's Report:
A good day to test gear - warm, wet, and windy. Photo Credit: The PM


Les méchants douche pics are posted [Link To PM's Pics]

The douche bags who busted into MadDog's car are... douche bags. They deserve to have their windows smashed in.

It was also great to see ignorance has no bounds or reservation. Having a perfect stranger tell us what "CHANGE" means or that we'll all be wearing turbans soon was certainly a very special end to a special day.

g-$$$'s Report:
For once the weatherman was right...

Hey great time today and it was certainly awesome to reunite the crew
and get to meet and share stories with Jeff. For one thing, I have a
whole lot of reading to catch up on. And I'm going to owe a lot of Photo Credit: The PM

beers/gatorade for leaving half of my gear in tmail's car tonight.
Oops!

Mad Dog, man tough break with the widow and the swiped pesos. One
thing that came up in our car was that there have been stories of
folks who have their cars broken into but nothing damaged or overtly
taken except a single credit card or the CC numbers copied. One card
missing is not likely to cause someone to immediately think they were
vandalized except in your case the window was smashed but they "could"
have written down your card numbers. So if so inclined, you can speak
with your card companies to either put an alert on the card or ask for
a reissue if you really want to CYA.

Dorigan's Report: [Link To Dorigan's Pics]

1. A big thanks to the crew for letting me tag-along. Good group of guys and a good day for getting out there.
2. It was unseasonably warm and wet in the Whites, which proved to be a gear test largely in the comfort department. The Howker Ridge trail proved to be a nice route up the backside of Madison. A team representative left a dna-marked Cairn as evidence of the successful ascent -- watch your step in the spring...
3. Note: Next time a new guys comes, wear nametags -- it's hard enough to remember 5 new names, but the nicknames made it 15... I think I called someone "mad mutha puppet...??"
4. Please send this to Alan Gordon or the guy who pointed his rifle at me. If they can read, perhaps this will help allay their fears: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/rednecks-for-obama/

Dorigan's Big Wheel Gear Report:

1. + Arcteryx Soft-shell pants and jacket: a good choice for the ascent -- great breathability and moisture management. Even in a steady drizzle with high winds, I never overheated, felt soaked, or became chilled during breaks.
2. + Virgin Arcteryx shell & Moonstone PacLite Goretex pants: bombproof on the descent, though I should have gone with lighter weight long-underwear tops and bottoms.
3. + Good choice to bring complete change of clothes for rainy day hike (socks included).
4. - Arcteryx t-shirt instantly retired to be my new car washing shammy. Worst shirt ever.
5. - New Icebreaker hat merino wool hat: stayed warm when wet, but turned into Dumb-Donald from Fat Albert's hat (see: http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:ll7bBUMWPN0J:www.emerchandise.com/product/TSFTT0008/a:A7545+dumb+donald+fat+albert&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us)