3/19: Carter Dome or Wildcats?

[SherpaKroto]

Hmmm, good question. First off, let's assume we are hiking the Wildcats. I'll say 8:00 AM start, location TBD. We will head up no later than 8:15. If the ski trails, parking lot "C" (near the Quad list at the bottom of the Polecat Trail). If Wildcat Ridge (less likely), at Pinkham's.

This will be a very moderately paced hike Faster hikers can easily come along later, follow our tracks, and hike with us across the ridge.

David - will be very good to have you along.
LarryD - won't be flyfishing, but this should "partially" make up for that (never got to kayak the Andro last summer)

So far: SherpaK, ChrisB, shizzmac, LarryD, Mark, vegematic, whitelief, beaner(?). We'll cross paths with Pete Hickey somewhere along the way.

 

[beaner]

My current plan is to hike Wildcat A from Carter Notch. I will bring crampons for the Slide. Albee and I hope to hike Wildcat A, Cabot, and Waumbek before 7:33:59 Sunday morning(Don't forget the grace minute). Our thinking is that the easier ascent of Wildcat A will be from Carter Notch. I continue to hope and pray the trail will be broken. Al seems to have good reason to believe that it will be. We then move on to Cabot, and after a nap, join the last hooray on Waumbek. So we may see Pete Sunday morning. Al is graciously offering to help me complete the winter 48. Thank you Al. I hope I'll be able to keep up. If we feel up to it we may try to snag the Horn and the Bulge.

 

[Mark]

My current plan is to hike Wildcat A from Carter Notch. I will bring crampons for the Slide. Albee and I hope to hike Wildcat A, Cabot, and Waumbek before 7:33:59 Sunday morning(Don't forget the grace minute). Our thinking is that the easier ascent of Wildcat A will be from Carter Notch. I continue to hope and pray the trail will be broken. Al seems to have good reason to believe that it will be.

I don't know if you saw this, but as of 13 Mar, the trail up to Wildcat A was not broken.

 

[Mark]

Is anyone hiking up the Wildcat Ridge trail from Glen Ellis Falls parking area? I'm not thrilled with hiking up the ski trail (although I am guaranteed that the trail will be packed out).

I was considering bringing a sled for a quick descent down the ski trail. Wildcat ski patrol said I should really wait until 4:00 when the ski area closes. (Then I just have to avoid getting run over by the snow cats.)

 

[ChrisB]

This is starting to sound like fun...

I'll plan to be a Polecat on this trip, with my tiny little snowshoes.

David - Will be fun to hike with you again.
Sean - Got a few oil cans for the summit?
Sherp - Maybe we can all pile into the Beast for the ride down.

Sherpa John - You seem to frequent the downhill ski scene. Why not join us, this is a really nice ski area!

cb

 

[SherpaKroto]

CB, read your tag line...
Mark: I've been wanting to skin up Wildcat for a long time, so I think that's the way we'll go. Ask Michelle about a sled run Her sled still hasn't been found! A Swiss Bob would be great though...
beaner: good luck on your goal to finish the winter 48! Wish we were offering you more help. Definitely bring and ice ax when crossing the slide. With the day you have planned, you might think about the ski slopes, at least for descent: the ridge will be broken out, and the ski trails will be quick.

 

[sapblatt]

question

My winter expereince is pretty nonexistent, (except for my first snowshoe expereince up mighty Mount Willard a couple of Sundays ago)...could someone please tell me...

WHAT IS A SWISS BOB!?

 

[HikerBob]

It's.... THIS

Wooooooo! Wish I wouldn't break so easy

Non-Swiss Bob

 

[SherpaKroto]

sapblatt/HikerBob: plenty of room in our traveling caravan... Good way to end winter

 

[vegematic]

I'm looking forward to this. My boyfriend may come along as well. There's no way to know for sure until the alarm goes off Saturday morning and he either gets up or he doesn't...
-vegematic

 

[HikerBob]

Sherp

Karen and I are going back to conquer Moriah after being beaten by trailbreaking last try (see other thread for open invite to trailbreakers )

The Swiss Bob - looks like a blast but I'd be too concerned about snapping, me - not it.

Any plans for post-hike? I know a certain place in North Woodstock that will be seeing some VFTT stickers in the parking lot on Saturday

Bob

 

[beaner]

HikerBob,
Where do your feet go. Does the Swissbob have a tendency to spin in flight. Good luck on Moriah. I could have used your help in the Chimney on Osceola.

Sherpak,
Thank you for your advice and good wishes. At this point, after last week's failed attempt, the Wildcat A ascent is taking on the form of a vendetta. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case if I didn't have Albee along to part the snows.
Can we glissade the descent? I think careening back down to Carter notch may work well. Maybe we should x-country the 19mile brook. I gotta e-mail Albee.
By the way, when I skiied down the Polecat on Mar. 12 I met a couple of hikers who had tried the ridge trail from Glen Ellis a few days earlier. They gave up above the initial steep section because the trail vanished.
Good luck with the ridge between D and A! The mountain can only bow humbly in submission at the behest of such a formidable group. Jeff

 

[Papa Bear]

...
The mountain can only bow humbly in submission at the behest of such a formidable group. Jeff

The mountain bows to no one, no how! Depend on it!

 

[SherpaKroto]

beaner: the only thing that is "formadibale' might be my waistsize
I'm sure we'll all have a good time. I plan to put plenty of waypoints in my GPS to make the ridge a bit easier to follow. I was up there a few years back and we should do OK. Good luck to you and Albee! PapaBear: we all know who does the bowing. Everytime.

re: Swiss Bob, perhaps our esteemed Swiss Bob expert, carole will chime in. From what I know the legs go straight out in front of you, you hold on to the handles, and let 'er rip

HikerBob: I may stay in Gorham an extra night. Skiing the AutoRoad, or something else in the area is starting to sound too darn fun! Have fun at the Station! If you end up staying in Gorham, some of us will likely be at Mr Pizza for dinner. Always good to see you, so I hope you make it!

vegematic: great! I didn't get to say more than a "hey" at the Gathering, so it will be nice to finally meet you!

 

[beaner]

Papa Bear,
Your absolutely right. The mountains take the measure of the person more than the person takes the measure of the mountains. A person can be wrong. The mountains are never wrong. I was alluding to the virtue of persistence when facing adversity. Patience, persistence, and faith can overcome enormous obstacles. Knowing where persistence ends and foolishness begins, that's where the mountains are holding all the cards and we need braille imprints. Jeff

 

[bobandgeri]

SherpaKroto - if your going to stay in the area, you should come hike Waumbek with his Sunday morning, and then go ski the auto road later Sunday morning.

 

[sapblatt]

Saturday

Sherpa K: thanks for the invite...look forward to hiking with all soon...by the way...do you take the commuter rail from Greenwood in the morning? Your picture looks familiar and I often see a VFTT sticker on a car there?

Hiker Bob: I am thinking about hitting Moriah with you on Saturday...will let you know if I can. It would be a round trip day from Peabody...we'll see.

Moriah is one of the 30 peaks I am trying to hit before October 9...there lies the motivation!

 

[MichaelJ]

Heya! Just wanted to say that I would love to be joining you, since my original plans had the weekend empty (yeah, I know, I was supposedly looking forward to sleeping in), but family responsibilities have arisen. Have a wicked awesome and safe time!

 

[SherpaKroto]

sapblatt: yes, that's my Subaru. If you see me, please say hi. I've never run into another VFTTer on the commuter rail. Strange...

bobandgeri: I have no desire to hike at 2:00 in the morning. Until I'm on Rainier But thanks! You folks have a great time!
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Final Answer:
Wildcats via the Polecat ski trail. I am skinning up and survival skiing down. All others are hiking. We all will snowshoe over to Wildcat "A" and return down the ski trails (anyone who prefers to head down to the notch instead is also welcome to do so). Start time at the Quad lift (parking lot "C") is Saturday morning at 8:00 AM.
All are welcome to join in!

 

[Pete_Hickey]

OK, so let me get this straight, because I'm not sure where your going up.

If I go up Carter Dome early (like leaving 6:30), then head to Wildcat, and heading to Wildcat D, I should meet you along the way, right? Or, if the trail is unbroken, I wait on Wildcat until you get there, 'cause you're backtracking towards Wildcat D?

Could I bum a ride back to my car which would be parked at teh 19 mile brook trail?

Then again, I could wake up at 6, and think that another hour and a half of sleep is worth more than getting Carter Dome, because I don't want to kill myself before the hike with the other sherpa guy... Then BobandGeri are talking about skiing the auto road the next day too...