The weather looked beautiful so we decided to climb Big Al and hopefully get a view for one of our group who has climbed it 4 times with no views - unfortunately the forecast changes as the high peaks love to do and by the time we passed the Wright junction the storm came in so his second winter ascent of Big Al was the same as his first - low clouds, blowing snow and no views. But the butt sliding down the trail was excellent. We had the added fun of watching our friend try to skiup the mountain - added some extra time to the hike and a lot of good laughs! Nice short 7.5 mile RT hike with roughly 3000' of gain and ... on a clear day ... some incredible views.