North Kinsman and South Kinsman

On the summit of South Kinsman December 10, 2007

4,293 ft

Dates Climbed: 5/8/2005, 1/12/2007, 5/10/2009, 1/26/2010

Kinsman Pond Hockey – Jan 26, 2010

Leaders: Eric and Petek

Participants: Kyle, Ian, Maddie, Yashas, Dan, Sally, Sian

Author: Eric

We hauled some absurdly large packs up to the edge of Kinsman pond on Saturday and immediately started building a couple quinzies and one igloo. Back a few years ago MITOC bought an igloo-making kit and it has never been used (to my knowledge), so I thought I’d give it a try. Kyle and I worked hard for about 4 hours on an 8-ft diameter igloo and managed to get three full layers of bricks stacked up. By that time, though, the two quinzies were already completed and we considered that our sky-view igloo (or igloo with a huge air-hole at the top) was finished enough.

We cooked a gourmet bulgar and potatoes dinner and melted snow until about midnight, when most people went to sleep. But Petek, Ian, and I decided to go tag South Kinsman (number 33 on Petek’s 4000 footer list) for a little night hike. We left around 1am, summited a little before 3am, and got back to camp by 4am.

Sunday morning Petek cooked some gourmet chocolate-chip pancakes while others cleared snow off the pond. It took a couple hours but we got a decent rink made and played a fun match of 4-on-4 hockey for a good 2 hours. That had to be about the best quality alpine ice I’ve ever played hockey on in the whites, so you know where to go if you’re looking for a good skating rink.

We left camp around 3pm and sledded most of the way back to the trailhead.