All Quiet on the Eastern Front (January Edition)

 Well, not much going on these days and I have to admit I'm pretty annoyed by the current status of my damned physiology.  I damaged myself so bad on that dang Moriah trek that it'll be weeks before I can hike.  Well, MadDog was out for a bit due to injury (and more to come?), tMail was out due to injury/surgery, g-$$$ was out due to injury/surgery, now I'm out.  Dang, that part sucks.

And tMail is emailing me links to detailed descriptions of Hellgate and Redrock bushwacks.  Dang!

Lincoln's Backbone Bushwack

Post trip reports in comments.  I'll promote them to this main story.  Just drank many beers and watched movie and am going to crash.  Will get everything typed up in the morning....

g-$$$'s Trip Report:  Another Spungie Day for the record books.  What else is there to be said......

• PM/Maddog....you were missed for sure!!!!
• Tmail....trail breaker, project manager extraordinaire
• Muthaz....how much do you charge for your guided tours.....knew the route like the bank of Spungie's hand
• Wildman....Mr Ready and Steady....new nickname may need to be Hoover since no gear is left behind
• Buddy Boy Bro....F'in A...2 weeks removed from gall bladder surgery....holy WTF...what a rockstar!!!!
• Dogman....welcome to Franconia Ridge
• Rainman....nice to meet you...were we running late for Wapner?  you flew down the mountain like a man possessed
• And Last But Not Least....Spungie......Even though you hate descending you still kick ass.....the only thing better would be.....my....oh never mind.
• Will try and convert the GPS track later but see you all again on Spungie Day 2011 (or the Bad Boy or Katadhin)!

Mutha's Trip Report (Pics Here):  Holy crap, what clear air, what a great group, what an awesome route and what a fun day.  Temps in the woods probably around 15-20°, winds non-existent in the trees, light on the summit, maybe gusting up toe 20?  Hard to say.  Some key moments stuck in my mind:

• Clear Air:  We could see details on Mansfield, Jay, Killington.  I really don't think I've had such good visibility out there.
• At the turnoff point from the trail, looking up into the woods.  Everyone standing around saying "What the f***?  Up there?" and in less than a heartbeat, Spungie is on the move like a moose in mating season, charging up that mountain.
• The tangles on the bushwack required full-body assault on the situation - pulling on branches, ducking, pulling feet out of traps and lifting uphill while pulling poles out of snags and unhooking pack caught on a branch...all while being whipped and stabbed.
• What the hell was with the hyperactive chick on the summit who took our group photo?  She must've dragged her poor husband up that freaking mountain and would've give me my damned camera back!
• tMail and Spungie hammering on that mountain, busting through the trees.
• Getting out of treeline and scrambling over the boulders.  Rainman, tMail and Spungie firing up the rock crevice.
• Wildman has no fear and very likely has no anxiety over near-death experiences, being lost in the forest or being eaten by bears.  What is this guy made of?
• g-$$$, while insisting on the caboose position, hammered out the miles and the nearly impossible terrain with a bum shoulder and loser hiking buddies.  No war whoops, never slower, never faster like a damned machine.  I tried to get away, but he JUST KEPT ON COMING!
• Buddy Boy Bro:  two weeks ago he had his gall bladder out and he's doing this?!?  Does his doctor know?  He's probably thinking hell, when Buddy Boy comes back for new stitches I can afford another car.  No phone, no business calls and no drained batteries.  A Manimal!
• DogMan - The newbie goes out in STYLE, managing gear, perspiration, snow, etc. like a pro.
• Rainman - good to have you with us.  What, you're climbing up this crack in the rock?  Woah, FEARLESS!  (Should have know, he's a buddy of Spungie's).
• tMail - like hiking with the terminator.  Great route finding skills.
• Spungie - I haven't seen the power s**t but I'm not betting against it.  But man, Spungie, what the hell did you eat?!?  Whatever it was, it was Spungie, the Human Freight Train!  IT'S SPUNGIE DAY!

tMail's Trip Report (Coming soon) (Pics Here):The Backbone/Spine what ever you want to call it was a bush whacking success on multiple levels.

• We took an excellent route and communicated magnificently with each other during the ascent.
• Some highlights from the trip!
• Spungie going straight up the bone and dismantling a tree and using it as a hiking pole. It was bigger than me.
• The lady asking us how much time does it take off?
• Her husband saying that they were going out for three days? Doing the ridge?
• The trudge breaking trees, breaking through trees, standing on trees, getting stuck in trees.
• Getting poked in the throat by razor sharp branches.
• Seeing blood running down Wildman and Spungie s face.
• Not hearing any war whoops.
• The amount of gear, axes, snowshoes, poles, microspikes, goggles, crampons.
• The purple barney facemask!
• The girl that molested all of us basically making her husband feel like a bum!  "You guys bushwhacked that is awesome" "I want to take your picture, like 15 of them"
• The sense that Camels Hump, Mansfield, Jay Peak were all reachable if Spungie wanted to piss on them.
• Dogman first time on "the ridge"
• Rainman welcome to the club!
• Buddy Boy Bro internally bleeding and still tags both summits.
• Mutha leading the squad above treeline on the bone and his masterful crampon/axe technique.
• Mutha saying "give me my camera back or I will wrestle you to the ground"
• The lady that stunk like ass.

Awesome day boyz!

Zombie Holocaust: The Post-Apocalyptic Scenario

Not sure if everyone is following the progress of the approaching storm for Sunday/Monday but I'm eagerly awaiting the MWO's weather discussion in the next day or two.  It looks like the Bad Boy is going to get soaked in sleet, freezing rain and rain.  When this freezes up, our BadBoy trip could be totally awesome.

In the meantime, the melting snowpack will lead to raging rivers around here.  On the one hand, it just be a January thaw and a cold, rainy day.  On the other, it be a post-apocalyptic scenario on Tuesday w/ ice jams, flooding and people eating each other for food and the zombie army marching erratically from the state capital.

MLK Adventures

So far, not too much chatter on the mountain channel. tMail's got something plotted for Sunday (Webster & Jackson) and I've got something in the works for MLK day, but no specifics yet. The elusive Dr. Targan has pinged me for a possible Monday adventure, but we'll see. Not sure he really exists.

If I go solo Monday, will probably bang out Moriah just to get that bastard out of the way. It'll be a long day if anyone is thinking of going. It doesn't look like it's be a bright clear day either.

I may also try to get DogMan out for a Franconia Ridge loop Monday. I haven't mentioned it to him yet. Am about to drop the hint.

[Update 1/19/2010]
The PM:  Mount WTF?  Squam something? (Pics Here)
tMail:  Webster & Jackson w/ Agent 007 (Pics Here)
mutha:  Moriah (Pics Here)

Mutha's trip report:

Aside from the usual "Oooh, winter wonderland..." stuff, I need to record the following for future reference:  Going up the Carter-Moriah trail from Gorham includes crossing over some bare ledge where finding the trail on the opposite side can be difficult in deep snow.

Basically, there are 4 cleared areas of exposed ledge.  the first is pretty small.  the other three are significant.  the following is the perspective of somebody ascending toward Mt. Surprise.

Clearing #1:  go straight across it the way the trail seems to lead.

Clearings #2, #3, #4:  the trail runs across the right-hand side.  Stay along the treeline on the right.  All the clearings tilt down towards the valley. Hikers should stay on the downhill edge - do not go to the highest side of the clearing (the natural instinct).  In the fresh snow, if i hadn't been able to just make out the packed out trail, it is NOT AT ALL obvious which way to go.  everything looks like a logical choice for the trail.

One of them, i think it's #3, you scramble up a really steep approach to the clearing heading almost east.  As soon as you top out of the approach (but still below the high part of the clearing), turn to the right (south) and the entrance to the trees will be straight ahead (not visible until you get close).  Again, the trick is just to stay to the right, along the right side of the clearings, along the treeline.

i wouldn't want to have to find my way to Moriah after a huge winter storm.  Between Surprise and Moriah the trail winds back and forth and there are a lot of open routes through the trees.  If you use the rule:  stay on the highest part of the ridge, cheating to the west side of the ridge where possible, you'll eventually find the trail...but it could get rough.  The summit of surprise has some gnarly ravine-like spots.  No chance of injury, it's just really rugged going if you get off-trail.

Of Hookers & Bondsmen

tMail, g-$$$ and MadDog tackled the Bondcliff on skis and snowshoes. Mutha, DogMan, Spanky & Trudy tackle Hooker Mountain (both summits) by bushwack.

tMail's Trip Report (pics here): The potential line up was…Wildman, Spungie, Mutha, DogMan, MadDog, G$$$, Tmail, PM, and Denali Dave. PM had an Uhaul conflict with a buddy, Widlman got a dog, Mutha, Spungie spoke early from the heart and Mutha had to handle last minute thing. Denali Dave exists via email has been seen once by Mutha, could have been in the parking lot I’m not sure we didn’t wait for him.

So then there was 3, G$$$, MadDog and Tmail. We stuck with the plan headed toward Bondcliff for the January Bondcliff Expedition 2010. Gear and more gear was the word of the day….G$$$ and I took our expedition boots with us and MadDog went with his new Alpina all day and all night.

The LWT and WT rocked and there is no other way to do it than to ski it. As a side note the Owls Head (Black Pond) is packed beyond packed if anyone wants to head out there. The ski in was awesome and our transition to snowshoes and mountaineering boots was fast. Note to those that want to do these types of adventures take your boots with you and leave your ski boots attached to the ski and just leave them leaned against a tree. In the course of the day warming may occur and you don’t want them to fall over if just stuck in the snow we didn’t have any issues.

The trip up Bondcliff was solid packed out but some sections had soft snow and there was a little sinkage. I should add the war whoops were heard and G$$$ is made of titanium and earned hiker and skier of the day award. The best part is everyone made it to the summit to Bondcliff and it was well worth the effort for everyone! It was absolutely awesome being on Bondcliff in January.

MadDog and G$$$ got there pictures taken on the summit and then we all departed. MadDog lost his fingers from Bondcliff all the way to the car. The 2nd transition was eventful. I started to plan what I could do with my gloves on and decided to do that first. The last thing I did was put the left ski on the left side and right ski on my right side. I was able to untie both Koflach boots with gloves on then took gloves off and immediately transferred feet to ski boots tied them and gloves back on.

MadDog was running up and down the trail screaming and trying to generate heat his hands ice blocks. G$$$ was reattaching his shoulder and arm to his body. I immediately pulled out 4 chem warmers for MadDog and we dropped them in his mittens. I also helped MadDog put on his pack he lost all finger strength and we discussed how people die in the wilderness and how he felt like he had no hands. We also had binding issues Triple NNN iced up. I had to get my ACL Brace scrapper out and use twigs to de-ice. I restored to smashing, banging and kicking it. MadDog was tempted to walk out but we finally got it to stick. It finally worked after about 15 minutes at which points MadDog lost his hands more and mine went as well. I quickly changed to my mittens and gained them back. G$$$ was blazing trail his headlamp failing so we put G$$$ in the back and he followed MadDog and I. It felt like the Iditarod as we mushed through the woods. We had major tree issues. MadDog got stuck under a tree I had to give him my pole start skiing and G$$$ pushed him up from behind. As we popped him up he smashed his head on the downed tree.

We had lots of man love and the adrenaline was running high when we finished we all changed in the bathroom. MadDog was so excited he drove with his ski boots on. DD should be blown up, McDonalds should be torched. We ended up off of 293 South at Red Stone Pizza with my new friend Whitney! The pizza placed closed at 10 we got there around 9.40pm. I asked Whitney if we could eat there she said she was leaving at 10pm. Whitney ended up cleaning all the tables then MadDog and I saw her walking to DD. Ask for Whitney next time there tell her Tmail sent you.

We need to get more of these adventures going, there is lots of gear usage and requirements and pack preparation. We had lots of fun!

G$$$ and MadDog great job!

g-$$$'s Trail Report: epic indeed.

x-c ski adventure - check
cold gear test - check
winter bondcliff summit - check
f'in bondcliff views - check
sporting MSR Lighning Ascents - check
g-$$$ war whoop - check x 5
shoulder health check - marginal
fitness reality check - fail

notes and lessons learned:
For the loved ones, leave plenty of pad on the return time. No need to get everyone worried or launch a rescue when we're just running late.
Classic Lisa's message to me, unless it's an emergency don't call because I'm gonna be watching a movie.
For tmail: don't tell your mom what you're doing so you won't get yelled at...the line is mom, I'm going to bible study for 10 hours in the whites
Lincoln SUCKS. DD closing at 8PM so 8:00:15 is way too late.
Lincoln SUCKS...mcd's coffee..they may use green coffee roasters beanage but they must use sewage runoff from loon mountain to brew because that coffee tasted like the worst shit I ever had in a cup....the only reason why i drank it was because we just busted hump for 10 hours in single digit temps.
It must be a VT Honda dealer thing that cars be old standard with a broken headlight and tap water in the wiper fluid reservoir
I should never have questioned maddogs idea of bringing a helmet after seeing him go ass over teakettle on the overhead blowdowns
Word to the lazy...replace the headlamp batteries before you head out in the cold.
Skis and bindings dipped in creeks or snow = icing + jammed bindings.
Maddog must love his x-c boots, after wearing them all day including all the way to the pizza joint in manchester.
Masshole Justice is seeing a tailgaiting bumper surfer get pulled over by the staties just a few miles up 93.
NH gov't badly needs money because the staties were out in force; 11 was my count all day.
Don't use the side of your separated shoulder to break your fall
I am incredibly out of shape.
Whitney rolls some awesome meatballs!

Once again thanks Maddog and Tmail for being patient and keeping me motivated when I was fighting my Bondcliff demons! As usual the conversation and the company was first class. We're gonna knock off a Winter 3 Bonds one of these days.

Until then Spungie Day here we come!!!!!

MadDog's Trip Report: great job g-$ and tmail. thanks for the adventure.

g-$$$ is THE man. he gets it done, no matter what - tough as nails.

tmail is the Finger man (no, not the middle).

leading into the BC switchbacks on the ascent, g-$ graciously tells me to pass and join tmail at the front. good god. with no one else around, i'm left to pace the holbrook stallion. what an animal.

as tmail mentioned from the summit point (i.e., for the next 4+ hours) my digits were gone and one point totally shot, to the point of no feeling, no movement. it was the first time i experienced having stumps at the end of my arms. i can clearly see now how the death spiral evolves from that stage. it's a demon i need to continue to chase.

glad all are safe.

ps. what is it with boston drivers, i had keep swerving out of my travel lane, and then jump back.

DogMan's Trip Report (pics here):
Solid snow shoe trek with Spanky and Trudy. Great little climb and ridge, good scouting around for the ultimate "backcountry glade", bushwhack against sunset, followed by a nice boot jog to avoid darkness, search posse.

Mutha's Trip Report:
DogMan's back yard: Wild, deep, steep, cliffy, woodsy, glade-y and hey, it's getting dark. Anybody bring headlamps? No? Ummmm....

Next Adventure on 1/9 or 1/10: BC Skiing?

MadDog proposed a ski day, perhaps one of the following:

• ski into/outfrom owl's head
• ski into/outfrom bondcliff (and climb bondcliff, leaving skis behind)
• ski into lincoln's throat drainage, ski around
• some other backcountry adventure

I'm not opposed to this but Vermont's got a lot more snow cover than in the lower elevations of the Whites and I'm not confident that blowdowns/stumps are well covered yet. Anybody know?

Caledonia County Backcountry

Dogman, Maddog, Ed (Elaine), Spanky and I cranked around the outer regions of my block and put 3+ hours on Maddog's new Rossi's. The snow was deep, soft and slow in the drifts. I actually dropped off a steep hillside off a pillow of blown snow bulging out and cranked to a stop. From above, it looked like a scene out of "Steep". Regrettably, it turned into a scene from Mister Rogers ("Can you say 'boring'?"). But the hours of breaking trail took their toll and we were forced to eat two homemade pizzas then Ed and I soaked in the hottub.

Nappy Nappy time ...

Wednesday, 12/30 Idea

Proposal from tMail: the great Carter-Moriah attack (south, middle, north and Moriah):

19-Mile Brook Trail to South Carter
Follow ridge to North Carter
Return via Imp Trail

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here): No report, man. Got too busy and never wrote one up. Read tMail's - it says it ALL!!

tMail's Trip Report (pics here): Well 85% of the intended goal / traverse has been completed in December of 2009 for Carter Moriah.

DogMan, Mutha and myself tackled the all the Carter’s except Carter Dome which was previously done by Mutha and myself in early December of 2009. The weather was fairly warmer than the last outing but the quality of air and snow texture was outstanding.

We started off on the 19 mile brook trail and worked our way toward Zeta Pass and had to do some route finding in order to find the Carter – Moriah trail. We probably spent about 15-20 minutes looking for the trail. There is a good amount of snow up there and this was before the last couple storms so I would imagine it is significant by now.

The trail from Zeta Pass to South, Middle and North Carter was not broke out, we took turns breaking trail. This trip I did a much better job of food, lots of peanut butter crackers, all types of nuts some salted some not and I have two snicker bars that I had in the upper pockets of my pants that stayed somewhat soft but were beginning to harden after 45 minutes.

The recent cold weather that we have been in has brought some real food challenges. I am sticking with the peanut butter crackers, large amounts of almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and high salt items.

As far as gear, I think I am tying my inner boot to tight I have had feet problems lately, while ascending but when coming down my feet are nice and toasty. This last trip I had Darn Tough Ski socks on with Smartwool Mountaineering socks and everything was still cold, beats me suggestions?


New Patagonia R1 fleece hoody was outstanding and worked well, I have also used my shell jacket a lot more below tree line while hiking as there is tons of snow on branches and trees and the jacket has kept me warm and dry.


I continued the philosophy of not changing and everything dried out and I stayed warm. I have added a smartwool short sleeve shirt to my arsenal as a base layer it worked awesome!

Hats off to DogMan for his first big winter hike nice work!

Redfox was top notch again as we had pizza, nachos, beer, all their break and salads and had conversation about Kmart, St J Co op, NASA, the lunar landing, Pink Floyd, the song Frankenstein, solar power, Rush and Mutha’s old radio show on PBS.

The Great Meteorological Collapse of the End of 2009

As much as I'd like to head to the hills today, tomorrow and Monday, I look at this national weather map and wonder if I shouldn't just stay in bed with the covers over my head.

The MWO is forecasting freezing fog, glazing/riming conditions that will transition to snow eventually. While I don't mind crazy conditions, I'm not crazy, so heading out in this weather is not particularly appealing. The problem is that long-term it doesn't look good until Tuesday.

On the plus side, if the forecasted precip develops true to today's outlook, this even will end with snow and we'll end up with an exceptionally awesome base layer of strong, consolidated crust. A holiday gift that will keep on giving all winter long.

Happy Holidays to All (and congratulations to our italian friends for making through all of the 7 Fishes).

Man Vs. Wildcat

The trek was up Wildcat ski area to the ridge, then north to the Carters as far as we could manage.

Mutha's Trip Report (photos here):
The winds on the Bad Boy were ripping - roaring steady at 60-70 mph - and doing their part to keep us in the freezer all day with temps hovering around zero or just below. The plan worked well, although we made the wise decision not to continue beyond Zeta Pass (and exited via 19-mile brook). Highlights:

• The ascent up the Wildcat trails was a great start to the day (over 2,000ft gained). We stayed to climber's left of the gondola line and worked our way up a combination of trails (Cougar, Lynx, eventually taking the leftmost, groomed Polecat to the summit). Trail map here. We were mostly on ungroomed trails and the snowshoes did their work. In spite of the sub-zero, windy start to the day we both did the entire ascent w/out any shell or windbreaker .
• The summit of Wildcat was ROARING. We made a mad dash for the trail to get into the trees. At first I had some uncertainty about where the trail was (there appeared to be two routes into the woods) but made the quick decision when I heard tMail shout over the wind "GO! Take it!". Yeah, no point in hesitating in those conditions.
• We had unbroken trail from Wildcat to Carter Notch. The trail was easy to follow (a few blowdowns and as much as 5 seconds of uncertainty a few times) nothing particularly dramatic. Just a lot of work.
  
• The snow was pretty soft and the descent into the Notch a little crazed. In addition to having to snowshoe-ski down some impressive slopes, much of the descent is on switchbacks. Because of the side of the mountain being filled in with snow, following the trail means going downhill on the diagonal - very difficult footing since the soft, ultra-cold snow didn't pack but just sort of slid downhill.
• The ascent up to Carter Dome is actually pretty quick - just a little steep work but the sun was beating on us and could've been done bare-handed.
• The descent off Carter Dome into Zeta Pass was the best part of the day (for me). The snow was deep, deep, deep, and ultra soft powder. You could take huge strides, plunging deep and just letting gravity pull you down the mountain. It was soft, direct, easy, bouncy and lucious - like falling off a pile of goose down.
• The Carter Dome Trail joins up with the 19 Mile Brook trail and winds through a narrow valley that had the weirdest weather of the day. It was completely protected from the wind and the strong sun baked the dark trees, making for very warm air in the sunny spots. The general ambient air was probably not more than 0-5°, but without wind it was like suddenly finding yourself on a nice March day in the woods.
• Exiting onto rte 16 and trekking a mile north to where tMail's car was parked (at the Imp trailhead) was great training for Bataan. It was the Pinkham Notch Death March. We trudged along the plowed snow alongside the road, still in our snowshoes, over cigarette butts, beer cans and frozen gatorade bottles. It took about 30 minutes as the evening got darker, the air got colder and the headwind picked up, mixing with exhaust and salt dust.

A few gear notes:

• The entire day was done with almost no insulation. I wore a facemask the entire time to keep my nose warm - and I kept my beanie over my earlobes. Eventually I switched to a balaclava with integrated face mask to also keep the back of my neck warmer (my soft-shell doesn't have a hood).
• The cold was really harsh on the food. One of my Boost bottles was so sludged up it was difficult to get the nutrients out. I didn't eat my mackerel sandwich until I got back to the car, but it was like eating a fillet-o-fish right out of the freezer. tMail had his problems w/ food as well.
• We got concerned about the ability of our headlamps to function and kept one in pants pocket to keep the batteries warm. Mixed in with other reasons for exiting at Zeta Pass (like the prospect of breaking trail for another 6 hours) was the possibility that our headlamps would fail in the cold - even with forehead heat - when worn on the outside of a hat.
  

tMail's Trip Report (report coming soon, photos here):

It was an interesting morning as temperatures ranged from -17 to -4 while driving. Going through my head I know that -17 is next to impossible to hike in as Mutha and I experienced -25 and that is basic human and gear failure.

We both got ready in the car and started our ascent up Wildcat. The ascent was great I was warm and had great management of moisture. I put on my shell jacket right before we went into the opening near the summit and it never came off the rest of the day. One thing I remembered was to keep the hood up to project the "snow down the back" as everything was covered and the snow was deep and soft.

Things that worked well:

1. Shell jacket with Patagona Capiliene 3 underneath

2. Blackdiamond gloves with liners kept them on all day, hands stayed perfect.

3. I could have put a facemask on but when my face did get cold I would tuck it into the the part of the jacket that was fulled zipped and I warmed up quickly.

Couple of hairy parts going down into Carter Notch no fall zones, managed them well got over my fears of falling, one thing I would have liked to have is my axe.

Carter Notch hut was awesome, nice and warm, we need to spend a night there.

Carter Dome beautiful the snow was beautiful, the views to the east and west were spectacular.

Ascent to Rt 16 was great, soft snow good trails.

Note to anyone going to shop for xc skies in Lydonville, Marcel knows nothing, Mutha and I made him shit his pants. He said they were very busy, there were 3 people in the store, Mutha and I were two of them. The most knowledgeable person in the store Chris was busy helping a lady pick out a sweater. Marcel is a tool - bag.

Danville Inn is awesome for Saturday morning breakfast I highly recommend going there when in Danville.

The xc ski class that MadDog and I took was top notch, you learned everything in 2 minutes and then led on an all out assault of Danville's beaver ponds and a category II bushwhack.