9:34 am - Back at Lake of the Clouds, I call home to let my wife Elisabeth know where I am and what my plans are. I'm 2 hours behind schedule, but can't resist the climb up the summit cone of Washington. The southern snowfields that the Crawford path passes through are relatively firm going.

11:07 am - Summit of Mount Washington - Another call from the observation deck just to keep Elisabeth informed. Even on the summit, the wind is blowing less than 25 mph.

I head down the Trinity Heights connector to the Gulfside over mostly rock and ice patches, and don't need snowshoes again until Clay Col.

12:25 pm - As I begin traversing a snowfield from Clay Col, I encounter the deepest snow of the day, compressing to waist deep or more in sections. A few hundred yards seem to take an eternity, each step taking me deeper into bottomless snow and hungry spruce traps.

Finally I reach Sphinx Col, and am relieved to find rockier conditions almost all the way to Monticello Lawn. (The route over the summit of Clay would probably have been faster.)

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