Microspikes: you have saved my life

This hike would not have been possible without microspikes. I owe the inventor of this fantastic hiking apparatus a sack full of gold. I'm not sure where I'm going to obtain this sack of gold, but it's happening.
Update: I have put pictures here and they will KNOCK YOUR FUCKING SOCKS OFF.

I think it's safe to say that this adventure started the morning of New Years day. My head was teaching me a very harsh lesson about the dangers of consuming alcohol, but after a hearty brunch at 3pm, I was ready for something awesome. A bunch of people had off work the following day, so I suggested we go up to the Tufts Loj that night and then hike. It turns out that Katie Rizzolo simultaneously had the exact same idea, and Michelle merrily joined our rag-tag group of immortals for the first Loj adventure of 2012. There were a few others staying at the Loj that night with the intentions of "skiing" the next day. I'm not sure how much snow there was for them to ski on, but I'll be damned if they didn't try.
The hike we decided on was a 10 mile trek traversing 4 mountains: Tom, Willey, Field, and Avalon (which isn't one of the 48 4000-footers, but it had the best viewing point of all the mountains). The first 1.5 miles (and incidentally the last 1.5, since we retrace the same part of the hike back to the parking lot) was just a solid brick of ice. I guess it had been slushy and then froze overnight to the point in which it was a slippery death-trap. Fortunately, all three of us had microspikes, which saved the day. Holy crap, they were awesome: you can RUN on the ice. We actually hiked faster than if there were no snow/ice at all. I felt like I could walk up a vertical wall of ice with these things. And I certainly intend to try.
The hike was a lot of fun, especially with all the snow. Everything looked like Skyrim.

There are HERDS of Moose in that field of snow-covered trees. Somewhere...

Tom was the first mountain. You leave the main trail for about half a mile in order to summit, and then back down. An adorbs wild bird PERCHED ON MY FUCKING HAND. This mountain is almost too magical to handle.
The next was Willey. It had a great view of the Washington Hotel and surrounding area.

Everything the light touches is yours. ESPECIALLY the Washington Hotel.

This mountain also had a bonus feature: AWESOME DOGS. So that was great. But we had to keep moving because shit was getting cold and we had moar mountains to conquer. We summited Field next - another great view of the Presidential Ridge. I didn't remember it looking so Skyrim-y before, but it definitely does now.

I kept drinking water the entire time: not because I was thirsty, but to prevent the camelback hose from freezing

Lastly, we went back a different route to go over Avalon Mountain. It was way smaller than the other three, but had the best view by far. I guess the only thing left for me to do was claim my territory:

Literally the only time I write in cursive

Recap: snow hiking is fun, microspikes are God's greatest gift to Mankind, peeing is funny