Katahdin 3/15-3/19/13

[jake L.]

Fantastic adventure with a solid crew of six! We arrived a few days after some heavy rains making the approach a spicey luge run with XC skis. Days were sunny with highs of 15F, nights were clear and cold around -2F making for fun winter camping in the lean-to's. Still a solid base on the upper part of the mountain, Chimney Pond had 5' on the ground. Good skiing in and around Cathedral Ridge and The Saddle with a little help from some windblown. I'll let the pictures tell the rest. See below:

Let the slog begin!

Our first glimpse of her

Basin Pond and North Basin

Chimney Pond, Baxter Peak and Knifes Edge

Moon over camp

Snow seeking

Nice turns on "South Saddle Gully", angled line leading to the rock buttress on the right

St. Paddy's Day Revelry

Cathedral to Hamlin

Continued below:

 

[jake L.]

Heading up The Saddle

Saddle Pano

Topping out

Transitioning

Hamlin and Chimney Pond

Homeward Bound

 

[hiking lady]

Beautiful! My husband and his buddy left early thursday, skiied in and wanted to ice climb friday. His friend's crampon broke on one short ice climb they were doing and the avalanche danger and white out conditions forced them to leave Saturday since conditions were n't improving.

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Gorgeous pics, looks like an amazing trip. Do you hang your stove like that even while cooking? Cool..

 

[jake L.]

Gorgeous pics, looks like an amazing trip. Do you hang your stove like that even while cooking? Cool..

Thanks, we all had a blast! I don't typically hang my stove when cooking (sometimes in a tent) but did so on this trip to fit the candle beneath the fuel canister. The candle warmed the canister just enough for it to work VERY efficiently in the cold. My buddys were a bit leary of this at first but the canister never even got warm to the touch.

 

[Sunshine Chris]

Awesome adventure. Love the pics. Looks like a great time was had by all.

 

[blaze]

Spectacular photos! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steve-o]

Nice ! You guys look familiar .
We had CP bunkhouse for those dates.

 

[una_dogger]

Amazing photos! You guys were blessed with stellar conditions. Looks like good times!