Mt. Lafayette w/ Spanky

Ahhh, back above treeline.  It's been a rough spring w/ tight schedules and rainy weather but Spanky The Wonder Dog and I got out for a lovely afternoon.  (Pics here).

spanky and i set out to do the hike quickly, but not break records.  was targeting 2 hours.  i kept my heart rate pretty much constant.

basic stats:
parking lot to first cairn above greenleaf hut:  1:15
parking lot to summit:    1:43
entire trip, including 1/2 lunch on summit:  3:35

gear:  crampons all the way up (sun-beat snow balled up pretty bad, but summit was icy - crampons necessary).  on the way down wore crampons until the trees before the hut, then bareboot the rest of the way.  some of the best boot skiing ever.

good ideas:  hiked in sleeveless tee up and down (except for during summit lunch)

bad ideas:  kept jacket off on summit, lost fingers in 20°F, windy weather.  had to put on longsleeve top and windbreaker to survive. they came off before treeline when i took my crampons off.

surprises:  got 'lost' just before the summit.  went off trail and bushwacked through boulders.  there was ice and crust and nobody's traction was making an obvious trail.  i was head's-down instead of looking at cairns and just found myself in nowhere's-ville. luckily it wasn't a difficult detour.

spanky:  consumed 3 mackerel rollups.