Long Trail winter thruhike status???

[Jay H]

I heard about a person's Thru Hike of the LT this past winter somewhere online (I don't remember) and wondering if anybody know if he or she was successful as I haven't heard of anything roaming around. I talked to Jean, the caretaker at the summit of Stratton about it and she wasn't familiar with any.

I also ran into some folks talking about the VT side-to-side.. Is this like hiking the LT from say Killington to NH? or some other long distance trail?

Jay

 

[vegematic]

I don't know anything about a winter end-to-end, but the LT side-to-side involves hiking all the side trails to the LT. This includes the first part of the AT after the split, but not all the way to NH. Details are here: http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=354
-vegematic

 

[Drumhaggart]

I don't know anything about a winter end-to-end, but the LT side-to-side involves hiking all the side trails to the LT. This includes the first part of the AT after the split, but not all the way to NH. Details are here: http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=354
-vegematic

Yup!

During my LT E2E last summer I ran into someone working on completing a LT side-to-side.

-Steve

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Jay -

The LT is a bit difficult to follow in the winter - the blazes are white, not set particularly high so they can be buried in winter, and since it follows the ridgelines, it can make finding the blazes doubly hard.

In this day and age of GPSes, tracks, and Wikiloc, it would be earlier than in the past, and of course a low-snow winter would make it very much more feasible.

 

[Snowflea]

Some people may be interested to know that there is an east-west, border-to-border trail in Vermont. It's still a work in progress, but the Cross Vermont Trail runs from Wells River to Burlington, much of it on converted rail trail and, for now, road.

The Cross Vermont Trail Association has a very nice website, including downloadable maps and cue sheets:

http://www.crossvermont.org/our_trail/index.php

Compared to the Long Trail, the Cross Vermont Trail looks to be a relative cakewalk in winter!

 

[Jay H]

Thanks all, looks like an interesting list!

I am familiar with the CVT or the Rivendell trail because I was considering biking parts of it on my plan to bike tour to the NE kingdom. But this was before Irene and I postponed the trip... So in my route planning research I found out about the CVT which is a honorably project. I was headed to the St Johnsbury area and would of used a bit of the trail that was an old railline and is now a MUP....

Jay

 

[MichaelJ]

BTW, I think in winter the better journey would be to XC-ski the Catamount Trail which roughly parallels the Long Trail but down off the ridges as appropriate for skiing. You can camp, or set up your itinerary to ski each day from B&B to B&B. I think that would be an amazing trip, skiing the entire length of Vermont.

 

[RoySwkr]

I think that would be an amazing trip, skiing the entire length of Vermont.

I think the club does/did this as a series every winter

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I noted a log entry in the Battell leanto going up Abe from the col that a Logan and Nara were doing a North bound thruhike. They noted they had gone 155 miles in 26 days in the entry on 2/15 (I think).

 

[Peaks]

Catamount Trail

I think the club does/did this as a series every winter

The Catamount Ski Trail Association offers 2 8 day tours each winter. I suspect that in 2013, these tours will cover Mass Boarder to Greendale Road/Weston and Bandon Gap to Edson Hill Manor/Stowe. Look for information posted on the CTA website in August.