Flattop Mountain

December 22nd was supposed to be the day that Cindy McCloskey and I hiked up to the Boulderfield (located adjacent to the north face of Longs Peak), camped overnight, and then ascended Storm Peak on the 23rd. The 22nd looked like a great day to establish a base camp, however, the 23rd was forecast to experience brutally strong winds and falling temperatures above 12,000 feet.  Those conditions would likely prevent an attempt on Storm Peak, so we decided to skip our high altitude camping excursion, and instead make an attempt on Hallett Peak on the 22nd.  We started up the Flattop Mountain trail at around 3am, and luckily found the snow along our route to be well packed below treeline. 

It was a different story above treeline...some snowfields and drifts were firm, while others were soft, causing us to posthole up to our waist.  One particular section was so bad that I decided to crawl 50 feet instead of constantly sinking in deep snow with each step.  Eventually we regained the Flattop Mountain trail, which skirted past the chasm located above Dream and Emerald Lakes.  We then left the trail and stayed close to the ridge line that leads toward Flattop Mountain, ascending snowfields and hopping over occasional boulders.  Our shortcut eventually reconnected with the trail, which led up over a snowfield that sat next to a cornice hanging over a cliff ledge.  I made quick progress from this area up to the "summit" of Flattop (which technically isn't a mountain, due to its lack of vertical prominence), and then waited a while for Cindy to catch up.  I learned her legs were not feeling good, and this, in addition to strong winds, frigidly low wind chill values, and another 1/2 mile and 500 feet of vertical gain required to summit Hallett, led us to call it good and head back down.  We followed the standard route all the way to treeline, and rapidly warmed up below as we bathed in the late afternoon sun and dying winds.