The Great Mack Mtn Bushwack

Yesterday Dogman, Trudy, Spanky, Jake and I did a 12-13 mile (5:30) bushwack.  Estimate of total elevation gain is about 5,000'.  We hit:

Hooker Mtn
Mack Mtn
Morse Mtn
Devil's Hill

The route out was bushwacked because except for the trail up Devil's Hill, none of these summits have trails.  Technically Hooker Mtn does, to the first peak, but the trail rises on the other side and we didn't hit it until within a few minutes of the main summit.

The return trip was all on snowmobile trails, forest roads, and for the last 5 miles, town-maintained roads.

The pace was arduous, in spite of an average pace of over 24 min.

For scale, Mac Mtn is about 2,400'

All these are covered in hardwood below 1500' w/ stands of fir at all elevations.  We tackled this now while the woods are still open.  In another month this trek couldn't be done w/out x-ray vision.

The weather and scenery were beautiful.

Pics to come tonight.

-mutha

The Aviversary

Up the Cathedral.
Down Hillman's.

MadDog's Trip Report:

1. Tmail and Mutha confronting the demons head-on, nice fricken job.
2. Must sleep, must get up and pack, must be quiet, must check email. Palin arises, and I realize I must be late. AHHHHH!
3. In attempt to reduce the lateness, the barely civilized Civic (safely) bushwhacked its way to Mutha's setting new land speed records along the way.
4. Seeing the PM (in his 30s beach attire) and Tmail (looking like a bloke setting off for a Sahara adventure) at the VC - had me thinking I might be on a Hollywood movie set. Come to think of it.
5. The VC, the trail in, and Tucks, were a zoo. I thought I was headed into a Buffet concert.
6. Spandex.
7. I realized (again) what a monster DogMan is...he and I were hanging, chatting it up on Cathedral, I stopped turned down to see the boys coming and turned, and DM had quietly about 40 paces between us in a matter of seconds.
8. Mutha, Tmail, and PM are trail hounds...they have this innate ability to pick out good lines.
9. Mutha running on autopilot calling out traps, placements, debris, etc.
10. There's something more weirdly appealing about first seeing the casualness, mix and number of people at the shelter. Then how the mood changes when some of the same group are prepping for descent down Hillmans.
11. I found myself, at least a half dozen times, want to go down face first, or at least slide. But the steepness and prospect of being out of control and hitting others kept stopping me. I kept thinking about our slide down Bonnie Pass and if it was steeper.
12. The creative geniuses at work, brainstorming reasons as why I would be late for that evening's dinner date. Listening to it all, I imagined I was sitting in with a bunch of writers from Seinfeld while trying to construct the next week's episode.
13. Tmail and Mutha taking me down trying to induce injury.
14. I am not supposed to (at all) so I fell off the wagon...but as ugly as it looked, the downhill double-time to the VC was pure fun. I really really miss doing that.
15. It was just a nice day out.

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here):

• The vast sea of humanity was more than impressive.  That so many people could all want to be in that beautiful setting was not surprising.  That so many people would actually go there - some looking like they really shouldn't exert themselves that much was surprising.  
• If there were over 4,000 people on the mountain today, there were 500 above treeline and 5 on Cathedral Gully.
• Why the f**k would anyone ski down Dodge's?
• MadDog!  Axe in right hand, pole in left hand - or just leave the pole on your pack!
• The PM has awesome pecs, awesome farts, awesome Bushmill's, awesome soggy bread and meat and cheese thing that looked like it got squeezed out of a bottle purchased at the mini-mart, and awesome descending skills.  The guy actually slid backwards, downhill on crampons, on purpose!
• Somebody has to communicate to DogMan that accelerating up the gully isn't normal.  He was moving so fast it made me think I was moving backwards and threw myself onto the snow to self-arrest.
• MadDog tried to pull the "I don't think I want to go up that steep stuff" thing.  The next thing we knew he had everyone by the short-hairs, pulling us up the mountain.
• tMail is going to get his car towed.  Baaaad, tMail.
• tMail, congratulations on topping out on Cathedral.  The demons are in full retreat.

The Puppet Master's Trip Report (pics here):  Memories...

1. Looking for a parking spot along the road and thinking, "Was this a good idea?"
2. Blasting out the VC bathroom to the point of rushing out of the stall and only saying to the next guy, "That one is no good."
3. Trail traffic. We needed to paint lanes.
4. French girls with French stuff
5. MD saying "Dodges, no way." The next breath agreeing the the unkown Cathedral trail was perfect... MAD DOG!
6. Dog Man blasting up the steeps like he was born to a mountain goat mother.
7. MuthaZ appreciating a flask of whiskey, a good glissade, and he has shaken the demons of the fall.
8. TMail blasting up the hill, overthinking the last 20yds but then laughing about it - f-ing animal. Showing me the ropes of the Kearsage Cafe... and what kind of destruction it causes.
9. I'm of Scotch descent, I need to wear sunblock.
10. Great fun.
11. In the aftermath... Where the F was Nate G?!!!

DogMan's Trip Report (pics here):

tMail's Trip Report (pics here):Well Well Well….what is one to say!

1. The drive up was enjoyable….conversation centered on population and the ability for food sustainability…we are doomed.
2. Speaking of population PNVC was a mosh pit of people, vehicles, dogs and the highly educated and uneducated.
3. PM and I enjoyed some people watching as MD overslept at the dog kennel.  The most interesting thing I saw was a guy wearing those girl type shorts that look like a skirt
4. The DB who said there is no such thing as avalanches in Tux in April…….
5. Mutha “You couldn’t be so wrong”
6. The DB girlfriend “I don’t want to put my backpack in the snow”
7. The guy who witnessed the destruction the PM did in the bathroom when opening the door was quoted as saying “That baby is fried”
8. MD “I am not going up Dodge’s”
9. MD “Let’s go up Cathedral” completely unknown, never before trampled on, nobody had skied it or been on it.
10. Exercising the demons going up Cathedral, learning much more about snow stability and gaining more respect for the Snow Rangers
11. Topping out on Cathedral and having the PM open the bar, Whiskey from Granddaddy’s old liquor chest!
12. Mutha going down Hillmans, “self arresting isn’t that good” okay lets continue to proceed.
13. Giving DogMan his self arresting lesson in 4 seconds part of which was given by MadDog while he was glissading down.
14. Planning MDs story of why he was a no show for dinner with his friends
15. Taking PM to the mother of all burrito places in North Conway
16. PM and I consumed about 6 liters of liquid at the Irving station at the end of Rt. 16 (Gatorade, Chocolate Milk, SOBE, Ice Cream, Lemonade)
17. PM and I had our Easter Bunny trot on Sunday 5 miles through Frank-vegas
18. Mutha great job exercising the Dodge’s Demons!
19. Cathedral Gully Maximum Pitch 45 degrees, sustained 35 degrees and dominant aspect North.
20. Great day boyz thanks for the patience and support.