The Bonds: Our Longest Journey

(Photo on left: Tom & Atticus atop West Bond. On right: Guyot.)

There’s a layer of ice outside and we are safe and warm inside. My dearest friend is curled up next to my hip as I write, snores softly rising from his little body. He’s content and comfortably snug against me.

Two days have passed since our longest journey and I’m still trying to come to terms with our adventure. Each time I roll it over in my head and take inventory of the day and those 23 miles and the wind and snow I can’t seem to fit it all in to where it belongs.

How do you grasp things that take your breath away? Put words to things that seem to defy description? Or express a true sense of wonder when thoughts cannot capture a moment, never mind the written word?

On Saturday at 5:00 in the morning we embarked on our Bonds Traverse. We walked down Zealand Road with ambitious strides and with a goal in mind. The forecast was for comfortable temperatures around 30 degrees with a 30-50 percent chance of snow showers and the higher summits called for winds between 30-50 mph with the higher winds coming after the sun left the sky.

Upon reaching Zealand Hut we sat on the front porch and ate and drank. A young girl who had spent the night at the hut came out to visit Atticus and gladly took over feeding him ground sirloin. The forecast at the hut matched the one we started out with and we saw little harm in the small flakes falling as we started up the climb up from the hut. Atticus led the way, as is typically the case. I followed. With us was TJ, a loyal and mentally tough friend from home who is relatively new to hiking but had wanted a go at this hike since last winter.

The higher we climbed the more steady the snow fell. It would not let up until we were off of Bondcliff. At times the wind hissed far above our head as we made our way through the gray morning and through cold corridors of snow-covered conifers. We stopped often to catch our breath and to drink fluids. Once past the Zeacliff lookout spur we ran into deeper snow and Atticus instinctively got behind me as we barebooted up to the Zealand spur. The original thought was to drop our packs but the wind had increased and the temperature was dropping so we brought the packs with us and took a break at the summit where I put on Atticus’ body suit and his first set of boots.

The climb up towards Guyot was slick and at times challenging. Atticus slipped on a few of the steeps and at times I boosted him up. Just before cresting the top we stopped again and geared up for the wind which was coming from the NNW. When we hit the top a hungry wind greeted us with an open maw and flung snow at us. We slowly made our way down the trail through drifts knee and hip deep as we did our best to break trail for Atticus who was oftentimes neck deep in the snow and struggling forward. When we merged with the Bondcliff Trail the wind continued to pound us and we high-stepped it through great drifts. We worked our way down into the trees separating Guyot from the Bonds and regrouped. Atticus had lost three boots in the deep drifts. I pulled out his second set and put them on him and once again we refueled while getting ready for whatever West Bond had in store for us.

It turned out West Bond was an easier climb with little wind at the top. It was cold but not unbearable. We climbed off of West Bond and once back on the Bondcliff Trail we started up Bond in a slow slog through the ever-deepening snow. This time I had Atticus get back into third position and we broke out the path for him using our snowshoes. The journey to Bond was uneventful, it was simply a grind as we broke trail.

From there we set out for Bondcliff and the winds that were waiting for us. The snow was deeper here, sometimes up to my waist, sometimes just my knees. It had not attached to the rocks so we slipped and slid down the path and I fell many times. Towards the lowest point in the trail, just before the climb starts, I fell again and one of my carbon graphite hiking poles got wedged in a rock and it snapped, rendering it useless.

At the bottom of the trail the wind was at its worst. The climb up Bondcliff was slow and difficult and a defining moment for us. We moved together as a team. I led the way breaking the trail, followed by TJ, who was followed by little Atticus who was being swallowed up by the snow. We took longer strides to make it out of the wind and the whipping snow but that wasn’t working for Atticus. So then we changed to baby steps to beat down the path for him. We progressed slowly but surely.

I know that on the day Kevin and Brutus did the traverse with their friends and followers they hit hellacious winds. These winds on Saturday were strong, but nothing like they encountered. For us it wasn’t the wind or the snow but the tumultuous marriage between the two and the sudden depth of the accumulation that was challenging for us. We pushed our way from cairn to cairn cheering on the smallest member of our group the entire way as we turned our backs to the wind.

I have climbed Bondcliff twice before from the north but on those two occasions we moved through the warmth of a summer day and nothing else. Here we were challenged and I’m happy to say that even though it took an extremely long time to reach the summit we did so, working together as a team.

Until the day I die I will remember the sight of Atticus pushing through those drifts, sometimes pushing ahead of us before we could break trail for him. He’s not the biggest dog but on this one day I have no doubt that his heart was as big as any creature's on earth.

This morning I received an email from TJ. In it he wrote: “I know you hear this all the time, but I am just so impressed with Atticus’ conduct on the mountain. He had to be dragging but you wouldn’t know it, he just kept on coming, like a game prize fighter. I love thinking about how tough he is.”

At one point while trudging forward the clouds parted for a bit to give us a glimpse of yet another tough climb ahead, I turned back to encourage Atticus but the wind robbed my voice from the air. And while the gust stole my words it could not stop me on this day nor could the whipping snow, but the sight of this little dog did just that. Watching him march along, sometimes swimming forward, sometimes lunging against neck-deep drifts, I found myself moved in the deepest ways.

Had the forecasters predicted the day correctly we wouldn’t have been up there, but I was moved to know that he would not be deterred once stuck in the middle of it, not by these conditions on this wicked day.

Looking back at him for that one moment, all stood still for me. The fury of the wind was silenced. The snow stood still in mid air. I could not move, I could only look on in admiration and awe and above all else…love.

On top of Bondcliff we had just as hard a time finding the cairns as we had during the last couple of hours and the wind howled as never before but we had made it and were about to leave it all behind. We could barely make out the great edifice hikers are photographed on as we trudged on. When I touched the largest cairn at the summit I turned to the wind and let out my own howl as fierce as any we had heard that day and soon was joined by TJ and then Atticus.

The 3 ½ miles that remained of the Bondcliff Trail was tedious with much ankle and knee twisting from the soft powder over the uneven rocks. Through that and the remaining 6 miles of the night we marched on in single file. A man, a dog, and another man, but more importantly a team. We moved through the night in relative silence. For there were no thoughts that could match the bond formed on this day, this day of our longest journey and one of our greatest tests.

The totals for the day were 23.3 miles with 4,500 feet of elevation gain and four 4,000-footers.

I am proud of my choice in hiking partners. Atticus is always with me but TJ was chosen for a reason and he proved to be invaluable in understanding that all our hikes revolve around Atticus’ safety and comfort. He was there throughout the day to encourage him through the tougher parts and on occasion give him a boost or a lift.

I’m also proud that when confronted by an unpredicted turn in the weather we kept our collective cool and thought all about the advice I have gleaned about winter hiking from various members of Rocks on Top and Views from the Top, but more specifically from Steve Smith and most recently Steve Martin and most importantly Cath Goodwin. (Cath and Steve M. love dogs and as they were there for Brutus they’ve also offered to help Atticus in any way possible. They'd be happy to know that their advice was used in many ways and that while they were not with us on this hike, Atticus was well-protected and cared for so that he can have as many hikes with his two new friends as they wish.)

But more than anything I’m proud of my most constant hiking partner and what he endured. The next morning I was stiff and looking forward to a day of rest, he was looking forward to a good long walk on another cold and windy day.