Today I went to do a "short" hike up Sugarloaf mountain in the Catskills.  I came in via Mink Hollow, the old trail.  The trail starts off as an old road that crosses a stream a few times, and was anywhere from a few inches to no snow.  I got to the Devils Path and hung a left and in no time I was at the trail junction with the new Mink Hollow trail.  This is where the climb starts.  There was a lone set of tracks I was following, and they were covered in a couple inches of fresh snow.  But damn it is steep.  

On the way up you wind your way to the bottom of a ledge, and go along it until you go up it.  That was the first time I changed my traction, from snowshoes to microspikes.  I got up it with a little effort and changed back to the shoes (about 20 trail feet here).  I then came into another icy outcrop to go up that I changed again to spikes.  The trail was rather solid and not that deep in snow, so I kept the spikes on.  I knew that at 3500 feet there was going to be another icy spot.  Turns out, that was about 0.2 miles away and the spot I was worried about was not an issue at all.  Got above it and put the shoes back on just in time to deal with drifted snow as I approached the peak.

Unfortunately, this is the Catskills, and there are zero views from the peak.  I backtracked to the spur trail to the lookout, and well, there was no view.  All clouds.  I had hoped for a break, but alas, not today.  The way down was much of the same.  There were many spots my tracks were filled in, and I only switched out of the shoes for the 2 icy spots I had concerns with on the up.  I was careful, but still it was a little nerve wracking to go down them.  I did consider pulling out the webbing and wrapping it around a big root on the last, and worst, icy section.

It was a slow hike between the steepness, ice, and breaking trail, but it was a good hike.