This is what it looks like at 5am, in a truck, putting your boots on. It is what it is. If you want to rob a bank, well, you're probably adequately attired to do that too.

As mentioned, we'd been here before. We had decided to try to do the traverse using a relatively newfangled product called a skishoe. A Canadian company called Yupi has been making skishoes for a few years. Skishoes are essentially very short, very fat skis with universal bindings and permanent skins attached to them for uphill purchase. We thought these contraptions would give us a better chance at negotiating the steep, rough, up-and-down trail on the way up the ridge, but would still allow us to glide down the ski trail from Mt. Marcy and back out of the High Peaks (the main reason why we'd carried skis the first time). It's not all that important, because even though we had both ordered a pair and had them sent express, neither James nor I received the gizmos in time for the trip. This was actually a good thing, because knowing what we know now about conditions on the Great Range, only snowshoes would have done. And that's what we took. I may try the skishoes out in Alaska in March. We'll see.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar, let's do the numbers.

the great range traverse:
ranking by height (adk range)	mountain	distance	elevation
approach	[trailhead to] Roostercomb to Hedgehog	3.1 mi.	3369
30	Lower Wolfjaw	5.0 mi.	4175
29	Upper Wolfjaw	6.4 mi.	4185
22	Armstrong	7.2 mi.	4400
10	Gothics	8.1 mi.	4736
17	Saddleback	9.4 mi.	4515
9	Basin	10.3 mi.	4827
col	Little Haystack	--
3	Haystack (variation)	11.7 mi.	4960
1	Marcy	13.5 mi.	5344