The Autumn of 2003 had become known to "g" as the Hearty Days. Following two months of very successful medication treatment for a blockage to his heart, "g" was then prescribed a catheterization and received a medicated stent in his circumflex artery (blockage: 70-80%) on 10/24. On 11/16 he was climbing to the summit on Dial Mt. in the Adirondacks.

For this latest adventure, Iron Al and "g" teamed up to climb the 41st highest peak in the Adirondacks (4020/ft). The greatest consideration for gear preparation was the weather - had there been a snowfall up north?

After some relatively unsuccessful attempts to find the trail head, they chanced upon a trail in the middle of a "Closed for the Season", private golf course and resort. Surprisingly, there was a 30 minute walk from the parking lot to the trail head! And yes... there was snow.

Iron Al packed snow shoes; "g" packed his strap-on crampons... and, it was a good thing. The trail was mostly covered with 2-3 inches of snow and ice, but not nearly enough of either for the healthy use of snow shoes and crampons.

It was exactly 4-hours up and 3-hours down. Iron Al trudged up/down the steep, rocky trail in Tubbs snowshoes the size of small tabletops."g" donned crampons which gave him the impression of hiking in high heels for 7-hours. There was just enough bad weather on the trail to make the going desperately tricky and not suitable for the Boys' cleated footwear. However, every step required steel points because each snow-exposed rock had the potential for becoming a slippery banana peel.

OK. So, Iron Al did fall down a zillion times as he tried to navigate those tabletops with crampons over and around a narrow rocky trail. And, "g"... he nearly impaled himself on numerous occasions as his pointy crampons nailed either a leather boot or his fleece leggings.

And the best part of the trip? There were no injuries and The Boys came out of the woods (4:30 PM) just as night fall began to set in. And,"g"-stent? All we at G-WeB can say, is... "g"-Force is back!