Reply #56: Wow, my stomach was in my throat just reading your post. Amazing stuff! [View All]

I can't imagine how you must've felt, reaching down to touch the ground and finding none there. Yikes! After my experience on that Adirondack peak, I can sure relate to the kind of weather conditions you experienced. There was a moment after my buddy, myself, and the 4 kids got back together that we couldn't even see down the open face to where our wives were waiting because we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us. We started inching in what we thought was the way back to the trail, and then things cleared just for an instant, just long enough for us to make a beeline to where the trail met the open summit down below and where our wives were waiting. If it hadn't cleared, I was thinking at the time that I wouldn't even be able to use my compass because my hands were that cold and I don't think I could've held my map in my hands the way the winds and snow were blowing, let alone see it. It's easy to read about using a map and compass, but to actually do it when your hands are almost frozen and under high velocity winds and 50 below windchill is another thing.

You have a great style of writing, BTW. Thanks for your post!