Mt Lincoln+Lafayette

Mt Lincoln+Lafayette
#32-33, Climbed solo on 2003-11-07
From Route 93,
VAuto to Trailhead 1:48, 104 miles

Start	Elevation	Miles	Hours
Lafayette Place parking area	1780
Dry Brook	2000	0.7/0.7	0:25/0:16
Dry Brook	2860	1.6/1.6	1:20/0:59
Shining Rock side path	4130	2.8/2.9	2:35/2:08
Little Haystack Summit	4780	3.2/3.2	3:05/2:40
Lincoln Summit	5089	3.9/3.9	3:35/3:11
Lafayette Summit	5260	4.8/4.8	4:15/3:53
Lunch			0:16
Greenleaf Hut	4220	5.9/5.8	5:05/4:41
Sharp Turn / Rock Steps	3020	7.2/7.1	6:05/6:00
Old Bridal Path TH	1780	8.8/8.6	7:15/6:55

Set alarm for 5AM.
Went to bed at 1AM.
Woke up at 4:55.
Left house at 5:15, 40 degrees.
Arrived at trailhead at 7:15, 35 degrees.
Began at 7:20, finished at 2:31 = 7:11 - 0:16 for lunch = 6:55.

My hydration system's mouthpiece froze on Lincoln.

It was a dark and stormy night. As I reached the first summit, Little Haystack, I encountered a 20 MPH breeze from the west and the temp was about 30. I considered aborting. But the trail lead to the northeast and I decided to go try it knowing that I could quickly return and drop out of the wind. In about 20 feet the wind abated, there was just enough edge of the mountain to my west to deflect it. As I continued along, I kept going in and out of the wind. But since I kept finding sheltered portions of the path I knew I could always just give up and return the way I came. By the summit of Lincoln it hadn't gotten much worse and my ski mask was working wonderfully, so I just kept on. The ski mask made all the difference as my nose got very cold very quickly after reaching the first summit. I was only wearing sweatpants, a tshirt and a sweatshirt, but I was on the cool edge of comfortable.

I look colder than I actually was in the photos because I raised my ski mask and faced South for the best lighting. Since the wind was out of the Southwest I was taking it nearly head-on as I took the pictures. Also, I'm squinting to see myself in the LCD monitor on the camera.