Amazing Out There

My 15th winter trip to Pharaoh Lake was another wonderful time.  We had the largest group in several years when a few of the guys who had stopped going decided to join us to celebrate the return of Jim Beck after his long absence. 
Turned out Jim couldn't make it.
But Dick Orth joined us.  He's wanted to winter camp his whole life and has talked about it since before I started going.  He picked a good year to go, conditions were ideal with lots of sunshine, hard packed snow to walk on and excellent skiing on the lake.  He and Jim went up first and got there ahead of me.  Roy, Glenn, Tom, and Bill spent a night in Glenn's house in Bolton Landing before coming up the next morning.
Roy and I had a first experience too.  We climbed the low hill behind him in the bottom picture just before the fog rolled in on Saturday.  From these perspectives it might look like a similar elevation as Pharaoh Mountain behind Dick, but it was a 500' climb compared to almost 1400' for Pharaoh.  Next time Roy and I have our sights set on the higher hill in the background which should have fantastic open views of the lake and mountain.