To end out the year, I hiked Big Slide.  This was weirdly the first time I did it over the Brothers, which is the typical way most people first approach it.  

We started off with a dirt trail that slowly started to pick up snow and ice to the point about 1/2 a mile in we put on our microspikes for the rest of the day.  The hike up was steep as expected.  The ledges for each of the brothers had their own challenges getting over.  In the summer I'd have no qualms about going over them, a littel exposed, but nothing horrible.  In the winter, with ice here and there, it made them more of a challenge.  The clouds were low though, and we only got glimpses of the great range, and none of the peaks in the range the whole day.  It was such a weird lighting that it actually made the evergreens look a shade of black, and the whole scene felt like an Ansel Adams picture.  We finally go to the spur to go to the top and I dropped my pack as it was only 0.2 or so miles up.  The ladder was fun, and there was one really big step that was difficult for even myself to get up.  But we made it and was rewarded with a beautiful view of cloud.

The hike down, we went straight down to the phelps trail via the slide brook.  this was not a bad idea, as it was much less exposed than going over the brothers, but the multiple stream crossings were not the simplest things to do.  We did it, and we got down to the Phelps trail and were out to the gardens in next to no time.  It was a great hike, just wish it had views.

This makes 9/46 Winter peaks.