It's almost time for Gathering 8.5!!!

[SherpaKroto]

Audrey,
I'm very happy that you and Pat will be joining me on Saturday! Your presence is sure to attract others! Bring a short rope Shizzy is also coming along, so we should all have some good laughs together.

Hmm, powder day at Saddleback. Hadn't considered that one until earlier today when I was talking to Shizzy. It's been 20 years since I skied Saddleback, but I always loved it there. That would give the Gristers triple crown of Maine skiing in one weekend! FWIW, lift rates MLK weekend: Sunday River $63, Sugarloaf $63, Saddleback $39. Kind of a no brainer, don't you think?

As others have said, putting the Grivel's on is quite easy once you figure the straps out.

And yes, I also need directions to Go and Vo's Nordic retreat!

 

[sli74]

The fire warden's trail is steep, but so is the trail down from the horns to horns pond. It would be a real long day coming from the AT off of 27 thru cranberry pond to horns pond and over to Avery Peak and then down the fire wardens trail. Off the top of my head, i would say that would be around 15 miles round trip w/ car spots.

I backpacked from Rt. 27 to Avery campsite with a 40 pound pack October 2004 and added a light pack trip up to Avery peak that night. Didn't seem too bad under those conditions and I still had daylight left even with a 9 am start. But considering it is winter and there will be the 4 miles down the Firewarden's trail and the ski out added to the day, maybe it would be too crazy to do the entire trip? I would be up for trying it if the temps and the weather cooperate. Guess we can decide this time next week.

going up and back on the fw trail and hitting just avery and west peaks ends up being about 13.5 miles. so i'd say do the extra mile and see the range from the north and south horns.

but if you really want to do all of bigelow, start in stratton on the bigelow range trail, hit cranberry, continue over the main peaks on the AT thru safford notch and decend little bigelow to a spotted car. 20 miles of bliss and you have done the entire bigelow range. should be easy for anyone who has hiked, oh i don't know, say ... north brother in winter!
go

I will not be going up AND down the firewarden's, definitely want to do the loop but if others want to just do the peaks, we can ascend firewarden's leaving folks with the option of splitting into 2 groups, one doing the loop and one returning the way we went up.

Now, if the weather and trail conditions are perfect, 20 miles of bliss sound wonderful . . . the entire range would be so cool

Thanks for the info king tut and g o . . .

BTW, any idea on the elevation gain on these hikes?

sli74

 

[king tut]

I have a Cloe Caputo Fifty hikes in northern maine book that says the trail from stratton brook pond is 11 miles and 2850 elevation gain. That is if you do the "normal loop" w/out cranberry pond or peak. I recall that this is if you park right at the pond, which normally would require a pretty high clearance vehicle, ala caribou valley road style. Most people park about a mile from there, which makes the trek around 13 miles. Who knows w/ the snow/plowing.

 

[g o]

king tut,
not sure about cloe caputo and "fifty hikes in northern maine", but cloe chunn's book "fifty hikes in the maine mountains" is a good guide. it says the loop is 12 miles, but that doesn't count the distance from the official trailhead to the stratton pond outlet and back, or the extra 4/10ths of a mile to north horn and back. all told, the loop is just short of 14 miles. in winter you will not be able to drive in - it will not be plowed. and if you tried, like some others in the past you will ruin the ski trail and possibly get stuck.
btw - my stepson is one of cloe's students pictured on page 35 on the little jackson hike. he is the clean cut kid on the right of the picture.

 

[MichaelJ]

Hmm ... I was going on my memories of having done the Bigelows in summer and how long it was to make the trip up to the pond, over the Horns, and over to West Peak. I get around 2 miles longer to do the loop? I guess the important question is whether or not the Horns Pond Trail, and the AT in the col between the Horns and West Peak, tend to be broken out or not. And of course whehter or not we get a good dump next week. I don't mind steep; it brings people down to my pace. And the 1.6 mile ski would be fun.

So if you want to make your loop up Firewarden's, and there's anyone who'd come back down with me the same way, and you're not starting too obscenely early in the morning I'd be up for that. If not, no worries, I'll go ski CVR.

 

[DougPaul]

Did the Bigelow loop in winter as a 2-dayer a number of years ago. Went up to Horn Pond and down Firewarden with sidetrips to the N Horn and the main peak. Probably doable as a day trip if one can move quickly.

BTW, there was a short ice bulge on Firewarden, but we were able to go around it. Might have required a few technical moves otherwise.

Doug

 

[coldfeet]

I'm going to try getting there early fri and go hike somewhere short (6-8 miles), then try a longer one on sat and see what's left in my tank for sunday...I never hiked more than 12 miles but i guess records were ment to be broken...i'm going to the catskills tomorrow to get more exercise..anyone doing a short hike on friday?

 

[Bob]

BoB's Plans

anyone doing a short hike on friday?

BoB likes short hikes, so either the Crockers or Sugarloaf on Fryday.
Saturday I'd like to ski the CVR if SK will allow it !

 

[coldfeet]

Bob, the book says Sugarloaf is 5.8 miles from the crv road...I'd like to start the weekend with something nice and easy....some may want to join and continue to Spaulding...gee don't i sound like a leader? (not)

 

[king tut]

Bob, the book says Sugarloaf is 5.8 miles from the crv road...I'd like to start the weekend with something nice and easy....some may want to join and continue to Spaulding...gee don't i sound like a leader? (not)

Sugarloaf from the cvr will not be a nice and easy start to your winter vacation. The odds are that the trail will not be packed(if travelled at all) and it will be steep and snowy/icy. When i was up there last week there was a foot of snow pack in the woods. You might want to check out burnt mt for an "easier hike". It is 3600 feet, and is easily reached from the sugarloaf parking lot. It is off burnt mt road in the condos and the x-c ski trails. Very nice scenery, you can check my pics in shutterbook if you want a preview. Allow at least 4 hours to complete the hike. probably more.

 

[SherpaKroto]

BoB, it sounds like we will have a nice little band of skiers on the Redington ski. Extremely happy to see you joining in! We should get Shzzy to pull el pulque so we could have some burgers on the trail

 

[coldfeet]

Thx King Tut, gee thats too bad, after today's trip in the catskills i don't feel like working hard, but i'd be interested in something else, just point the way..thx

 

[coldfeet]

Weather report is in the high 40's - mid 50's this week...do u guys have the same weather pattern going on up there this week also?...will that change hiking conditions?

 

[Artex]

Weather report is in the high 40's - mid 50's this week...do u guys have the same weather pattern going on up there this week also?...will that change hiking conditions?

As of this posting, I wouldn't rely too much on weather reports at this point as it is too early. A clearer picture will probably shape up a couple days beforehand. Hopefully we'll have some great conditions though!

Four more days... woohoo!

 

[spencer]

I wanted to do something like hike up Sugarloaf from CVR and ski down the Loaf or repeat the ski whack up Spaulding and down the Loaf that GO and I did last year - but alas, Joanna has requested a day of x-c skiing. what days are people going into Redington? Maybe I can get her to do that again.

anyone else thinking about some easier x-c during the weekend?

spencer

 

[g o]

4 inches of snow predicted for today so the trails around the house and local area should be in fine xc skiing shape. i groom our trails and there are some great open fields, a frozen pond and quite a few snowmobile trails connected to our trails, that all make for really good skiing.
the carrabassett touring center is just 15 minutes away has many miles of groomed trails and is fairly inexpensive for a pass.

 

[king tut]

Weather report is in the high 40's - mid 50's this week...do u guys have the same weather pattern going on up there this week also?...will that change hiking conditions?

Good site for maineacs.
http://www.state.me.us/mema/weather/weather.htm
Click on zone 8

Don't trust anything on the sugarloaf website for conditions. They wildly exaggerate the conditions this year for marketing purposes. They didn't used to be this way, but it's pretty bad this year. The roehmer weather report is pretty horrid too. He generally predicts 2-3x more snow than what the mt gets. If anyone wants to read more info, go to k2trav.com, a good discussion board for sugarloaf that is not run by the mt.

 

[MichaelJ]

i groom our trails

I am convinced that either "g o" never sleeps, or has been cloned, because he never ceases to amaze me with the number of things he accomplishes...

4 days: woo-hoo!

 

[SherpaKroto]

Weather Report from "Dr Weather", Jim Roehmer. They got 5.5 inches today at Sugarloaf.

FORECAST…

Another 2 to about 4 inches should fall on Sugarloaf by early Tuesday morning…then a great day of skiing Tuesday with partial sunshine breaking out. A weak storm system may bring a mix of rain and snow with perhaps another 1 to 3 inches of snow on top of the glades on Wednesday night. There is a 30% chance for up 5 inches on top by Thursday morning **if** temperatures cooperate.

Thursday and Friday should be down right spring-like with milder breezes and some sunshine poking through. Some computer models bring the chance for a rain to snow scenario setting up Saturday night into Sunday which could be significant, but at this time remains to be seen.

In general - The next 10 to 15 days overall should be above normal in temperature, and probably drier as a whole as well. But with Sugarloaf’s recent snowfall, it’s more northerly location and it’s higher elevation, pretty good skiing conditions will last.

Also, if anyone is interested, Saddleback confirmed via eMail that prices for the weekend will be $39 a day for alpine/lift served skiing.

Spencer: I'm hoping to head to Redington/Caribou Valley on Saturday. So far Audrey, Pat, Shizzmac, BoB and I are definites, others have indicated some interest. I definitely want to get back by, uh, 7:59. I wonder if we can find a TV that carries the Game near (at) GO's Casa?

 

[audrey]

Sherpa,

By 7:59??? Are you taking us on a 12-hour tour on Saturday? I don't much care if I get to Redington - a loop around the valley will be just fine, especially if we have to park on Rte 27!