Direttissima Hikes in the Whites

[earlylite]

I'm trying to dig up some historic information about continuous hikes of the WM 4,000 footers. I found the journal of Mats and MEBs' attempt in 2009

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31679

but only a passing reference to another Direttissima by Mats at an earlier date. Does anyone have information about that hike, other previous attempts, or successful and continuous hikes of the 4000 footers?

Thanks

Philip

 

[swamp]

Prior to the 09 attempt Mats did a successful solo Direttisima from Moosilauke to Cabot. I believe he got the idea (and the name Direttisima) from a guy who did it as a series of dayhikes and wrote about it in Appalachia.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

The first thread was an updated in progress thread: HERE

 

[earlylite]

Hooked up with Mats

I hooked up with Mats via email and it sounds like he's the only hiker to complete a WM Direttissima.

I'm going to go down to the AMC archives today and poke around to see if I can find any more historic references. I'll probably start with old Appalachia issues.

 

[MichaelJ]

Looks like someone else at the AMC got inspired about the Direttissima. Mats is (more) famous:

http://equipped.outdoors.org/2012/01/white-mountain-direttissima-summit-all.html

 

[spencer]

I had a similar interest several years ago (sometime around 2003, probably) and had some VFTT discussions about it but that was well before the last crash. I had grand thoughts of doing it myself, but other bugs bit me. VFTT's favorite enigma, Evilhanz, pointed me in the right direction:

The December 1971 Appalachia has Henry Folsom's account of the "Diretissima" that he did. I've been under the impression that his account is the first use of the term, and maybe the first actual Diretissima hike.

I have a personal copy of that issue. If you cannot find it elsewhere, PM me and I'll photocopy it for you.

Good luck!
Spencer

 

[DougPaul]

The December 1971 Appalachia has Henry Folsom's account of the "Diretissima" that he did. I've been under the impression that his account is the first use of the term, and maybe the first actual Diretissima hike.

The term means "direct route" in Italian. While this may be the first time it was applied to the White Mtns, it was used much earlier in Europe for technical climbing routes and railway routes.

"Like a drop of water falls from the summit, that's the line I shall take." Emilio Comici, 1901--1940.

Doug

 

[MichaelJ]

While this may be the first time it was applied to the White Mtns

There's the Direttissima Trail out of PNVC, if that trail predates 1971.

 

[RoySwkr]

The December 1971 Appalachia has Henry Folsom's account of the "Diretissima" that he did. I've been under the impression that his account is the first use of the term, and maybe the first actual Diretissima hike.

In his case he did it as day hikes if I remember correctly, not the "no resupply" mentioned more recently. Surely the Eiger diretissima people were only interested in doing the route, and staged ropes over weeks.

 

[DougPaul]

Surely the Eiger diretissima people were only interested in doing the route, and staged ropes over weeks.

Not necessarily. There were other directissimas. Many of those routes were climbed Alpine Style (in a single push) or in a single day.

IIRC (admittedly a vague memory) Comici applied it to a route elsewhere in the Alps, possibly in the Italian Alps.

Doug

 

[Snowflea]

There's the Direttissima Trail out of PNVC, if that trail predates 1971.

Are there two? There's the RMC's Direttissima Trail in the Northern Presies.

Edit: Oops, I am wrong; MichaelJ is correct (see below). The Sedona vortexes must be getting to my brain... ;-) And it sounds like a trail name the RMC would use.

If someone out there is Jonesin' for a "first," a winter Direttissima 48 has yet to be done...

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm not aware of one in the northern Presies? The one I know connects Pinkham visitor center with the Glen Boulder Trail.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I had a similar interest several years ago (sometime around 2003, probably) and had some VFTT discussions about it but that was well before the last crash. ...

I have a personal copy of that issue. If you cannot find it elsewhere, PM me and I'll photocopy it for you.

Good luck!
Spencer

If I can find that thread, hows boutsin you send me a copy?

If someone out there is Jonesin' for a "first," a winter Direttissima 48 has yet to be done...

As far as I know, although some have been attempted and cetianly talked about no one has done any of the major mountain chains in the NorthEast in that type of style in one push.


Where are these blogger guys getting their numbers? Mats, did 87,000 ft of gain through the 44 peaks he did in '09?

 

[spencer]

The term means "direct route" in Italian. While this may be the first time it was applied to the White Mtns, it was used much earlier in Europe for technical climbing routes and railway routes.

I forgot to account for DougPaul literalism when I wrote that Yes, I think it was the first time the term was applied to hiking the 48 in the shortest route.

Folsom did it in more than one "trip" but his claim to fame was more about figuring out what the shortest route to include all peaks was (hence the name) rather than just doing it the fastest.

At the time I was interested in choosing the optimal Diretissima route from a GIS network analysis perspective and then I was hoping to find the time to walk the route. Now I'm lucky to get out hiking

 

[spencer]

If I can find that thread, hows boutsin you send me a copy?

I didn't have much luck searching the wayback machine for old VFTT threads but if there is another way, it might be a fun blast from the past.

I would have sent you a copy just for asking but now that you've offered something in return...

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I didn't have much luck searching the wayback machine for old VFTT threads but if there is another way, it might be a fun blast from the past.

I would have sent you a copy just for asking but now that you've offered something in return...

It's on here, I remember reading it and I didn't read VFTT before the "crash" thing. I guess this means I have to spend some time digging..I should of thought of that before I left work this morning. I looked at your post quick but they only go back 500. Apparently you use to post a ton between 2003 and '06.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I guess I should just say that I have intention to do a Unsupported thru-hike of the White 4's myself. I have a few other things I would like to attempt first but hope to go this year and if not the following year. I was trying to decide between the Whites and the Long Trail and the Whites are pulling at me a little stronger.

I guess I'll mention also that besides the unsupported thru-hike that, Jan and I did of the ADK 46 in '09 we also did a unsupported thru of the Catskill 35 last Spring. I compensated for writing the longest Trip Report ever on a hiking forum for the 46 trip by not writing anything for the 35 trip.

I use the term unsupported to mean all under my own power, no resupply of any kind besides water. We also carried every piece of garbage to the end. I decided after the 46 when we camped out every night that open air shelters (like leantos) and structures (like tent platforms) would be acceptable in the same regard as using a bridge to cross a stream. Staying in a hut or service house (like B&B's, etc) would not.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I didn't have much luck searching the wayback machine for old VFTT threads but if there is another way, it might be a fun blast from the past.

I would have sent you a copy just for asking but now that you've offered something in return...

YES! Here..

 

[spencer]

That wasn't the discussion I was thinking of but good find anyway. Yes, I used to be much more active - I just check in occasionally now. There were some similar discussion from well before that. Anyway, send me your snail mail and I'll get a copy of the article to you.

 

[DougPaul]

The term means "direct route" in Italian. While this may be the first time it was applied to the White Mtns, it was used much earlier in Europe for technical climbing routes and railway routes.

I forgot to account for DougPaul literalism when I wrote that Yes, I think it was the first time the term was applied to hiking the 48 in the shortest route.

Just trying to give a wider sense of the history of the term...

I first encountered it in the context of technical climbing in the Alps where it seems to mean a route which climbs straight up the fall line to the summit (thus the winter direttissma on the Eiger). At first, applying it to hiking seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but a check of online dictionaries also yields a translation of "shortest route" (http://www.dictionarist.com/direttissima).

Doug