Winter Adventure in the Adirondacks

I started going to Upstate New York for winter wilderness treks in the 1990s. My brother-in-law invited me to join him and his friends for the first time in 1991. We began that trek near Keene Valley, New York and followed a frozen drainage to the summit of Mt. Marcy. I was in my early 30s. We stayed in one of the lean-to shelters typical of the Adirondacks. On the second day, we ascended Mt Marcy, then returned to the shelter. It was a fun trip. This is the pattern of these trips: three days and two nights during the coldest month of the season, February. Roll forward thirty-plus years. In mid-February this year, I went up for a trek with the crew. Weather permitting, we planned to climb a mountain west of that original trip, Mt. Grey. Flexible planning is necessary because the weather (and our ages) dictate whether we attempt to summit. There had been significant snowfall in early February. The week of our trip, more snow fell, and the temperatures were near zero. The snow base was…