great trip report ! thanks to the coolest crew of climbing maniacs you could ever hope to go on a BSP Winter trip with, for making it a great week
Chimney Pond Winter trips take alot of planning, alot of effort to get in there, but it's well worth it once you're settled in ... especially if you've got a few full days to play in the Basins
avalanche conditions and borderline weather kept us from reaching some of our goals, but we reached our main goal of having a great time
a few things ...
i should have mapped out BSP campgrounds along Roaring Brook Tote Road ... even recent BSP maps don't show Bear Brook Campground, or the trail heading to Katahdin Lake, but do show Avalanche Field, which is no longer there
when we left Togue Pond Gatehouse, i assumed that skiing to Roaring Brook on an 8-mile dead end road would be straight-forward ... never considered that Bear Brook would cause confusion on how far we'd have left until we reached the bunkhouse ... sorry about that, something to consider for future trips
bittersweet moments, watching BSP Crew tear down the old Chimney Pond bunkhouse while we were there ... the new bunkhouse is sweet, but we had some great times in the old bunkhouse
when we snowshoed to the base of Cathedral Trail, the wind blew my favorite hat off ... thought i lost it for good, until i spotted it behind a distant rock, like a drowning man waving for the third time
we played moe., in honour of Shizzy on former BSP trips ... moe. ripped us a new one, and with help by String Cheese Incident, Steve Kimock and Umphreys McGee, we were like the 4-assed monkeys on south park
thanks to the crew ...
Alan, who still doesn't know about his brother Woody glueing sandpaper to the bottom of his sled as a not-so-practical joke ... the hot cocoa marshmellows you offered the team tasted like ear plugs
Doug, who probably climbed Cilley-Barber while we were sleeping ... that verizon service, where you fart into your cell phone, and verizon calls you back and tells you what you had for lunch, was pretty cool ... how it knew we had mexican in Millinocket was amazing
Giggy, thanks for getting this trip started in the first place, always a pleasure to climb with ya ... we'll cross that Knife Edge next Winter after we climb the Chimney
Hamtero, with his humorous stories, especially the one about a guy who chowed beaver skins to save his own life
Jeff, who dropped his toothbrush into the Peehole To China ... still not sure why you were brushing your teeth so close to a hazardous area, or whether you're convinced that it wasn't worth going after it
Jen, with her astral chart that determined climbing ability: major, grande, etc
Woody, thanks for leading ice climbs ... hope Alan forgives you for glueing sandpaper to the bottom of his sled
BoB, who passed up on a chance to visit the mexican place in Millinocket for a chance to learn how to say "Viva La Casa!" in french
Mats, sorry you weren't there to carry kegs across the Knife Edge ... we did push-ups on the summit in your honour
lookin' forward to next Winter !
posted a few videos from the trip
http://www.youtube.com/user/armmon
http://community.webshots.com/user/armclimb
.
