Mount Guyot

[Nate]

Since I reserve the right to ask one stupid (at least to everyone else other than me) question a day, today's is this: what is the general consensus about where the true highest point on Guyot is? In looking on the topozone maps, it appears like it's probably near where the Twinway hits the Bondcliff Trail. Having been up there once (while in the hot pursuit of more prominent peaks), I seem to remember there appeared to be some places higher than the AT, but perhaps I'm just thinking of the stretch along the Bondcliff Trail.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

The summit of Mt. Guyot is on the Bondcliff Trail about .2 mi. South of the junction with the Twinway. There is a decent sized cairn marking the actual summit. It's also known as the South Summit.

 

[Mike P.]

I read the WMG last night & I'll tomorrow but I thought it said the higher summit is actually the one on the Twinway .01 East of the jct with Bondcliff.

Either way, this is a great place to wander, my favorite of the unofficial (not counting trailwrights) peaks.

Hit both!

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

The AMC WMG 27th edition describes the Twinway summit as the "Northeast summit" and the Bondcliff Trail summit as the "South summit". It doesn't specify which is higher. As I recall, the south summit appears slightly higher when viewed from up there. It's easy enough to bag them both though.

 

[dr_wu002]

Guyot is "Official" in my book

the unofficial (not counting trailwrights) peaks.

Guyot is a named summit. Just like Bondcliff, West Bond, Bond, South Twin and North Twin. The stupid NH48 list has nothing to do with whether or not Guyot is "official" or not. I despise this categorization & the apparent view that the 4000'er committee has the right somehow to "list" or "delist" a peak named on USGS Maps. Not to pick on Mike P but I hate this designation.

Guyot is official for me.

-Dr. Wu

 

[dms]

The AMC White Mountain Guide on page 164, "The Twinway now turns left and ascends in the open to the flat summit of Guyot". If Gene Daniell says that's the summit, it's good enough for me!

 

[grouseking]

I've only been on Guyot once, but i thought the summit was actually off trail, to the right when the Twinway turns toward Zealand. But that was just me lounging around exploring on one of the neatest summits I have ever visited. Clear, 60 degree weather in 9/11, lounging on Guyot. It didn't get any better than that.

grouseking

 

[Nate]

The AMC White Mountain Guide on page 164, "The Twinway now turns left and ascends in the open to the flat summit of Guyot". If Gene Daniell says that's the summit, it's good enough for me!

What edition is this from? I have the 27th in front of me, and on page 172 it specifies "the flat northeast summit" as the one the Twinway traverses. Then, on page 197 it says how the Bondcliff Trail "ascends to the bare south summit of Mt. Guyot and continues in the open 0.2 mi. to its junction with the Twinway 0.1 west of the higher, but less open north summit of Guyot." What I wonder is if the "northeast summit" is the same as the "north summit." Given the distances that are stated in the Guide, this would seem so, but Gene Daniell seems meticulous enough that he would be consistent in whether he called something a north peak or a northeast peak. Then again, maybe it's like Mount Davis, where the guide says the path goes right to the summit, and doesn't mention how the high point is actually a little bit off the trail.

 

[dms]

Nate, that description is from the 26th edition. On a hike with Gene, and his famous surveyor's wheel, on the Twinway in the 80's, Gene said the north bump was higher, but because of the fragile environment in that area, he simply wrote that the trail ascends the summit, he didn't want to encourage anyone to go off the trail to simply gain a couple of feet in elevation.

 

[dr_wu002]

Eyes!

I don't want to be rude or obnoxious (because I already was once in this thread!!) but since Guyot is an open summit, would it hurt to just go there and look around? You can probably easy enough figure out which part is the high part. It's not like you have a ton of trees bothering your views.

-Dr. Wu

 

[John H Swanson]

13 days ago when I was standing on the NE summit of Guyot, near the treeline, about 5 minutes north or east of the junction of the bondcliff trail, I was looking down at the other summit.

Before my first winter climb of Guyot, Larry Garland told me , twice, the true summit of Guyot is treed. I trust Larry to know the true summit. Thats good enough for me.

 

[bryan]

i would just add that guyot is an amazing summit with a great sense of isolation and dramatic views of the surrounding mountains. i had one of my nicest (and deepest) moments in the mountains there last spring (on both summits). the carin on the south makes a nice windbreak for a sandwich or leftover pizza as well.

bryan

 

[forestgnome]

I don't want to be rude or obnoxious (because I already was once in this thread!!) but since Guyot is an open summit, would it hurt to just go there and look around? You can probably easy enough figure out which part is the high part. It's not like you have a ton of trees bothering your views.

-Dr. Wu

Breath deeply, Dr. Wu, good spirit in the mountains. Mt. Guyot is not an "official" peak amongst the list people, and that's always a good thing. Savor the uniqueness of your relationship with the forest and the mountains, and accept the ways of the others, as different as they may be. They too enjoy the mountains, albeit in a different way. They don't mean to degrade.

Mt. Guyot has her own beauty. We can enjoy this mountain summit in our own way.

Happy Trails!

 

[Nate]

... since Guyot is an open summit, would it hurt to just go there and look around? You can probably easy enough figure out which part is the high part. It's not like you have a ton of trees bothering your views.

-Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu, I know you're not trying to be obnoxious, and this is a very valid point. Obviously anyone of us could hike up there tomorrow and within thirty seconds determine where the true highest point on Guyot is (unless the summit is clouded in). My question was simply coming from the perspective that since Guyot is not listed on the AMC 4k or NEHH lists, the one time I was in the area I was already in the midst of trying to bag multiple peaks in the limited time I had available, and in my time crunch didn't bother to take the two seconds to scope out Guyot's true highest point. Nor did it occur to me at the time that any 4k in New England had a high point that wasn't actually located right on a trail or spur path. It's only once I started looking at the 3k and some other lists that I realized I should have paid more attention when in the vicinity. After all, it would be really convenient to go with what the guide book says and claim that peak, but if I missed the true high point, I couldn't do so in good conscience. Then again, it's win/win anyway, since even if I missed the highest point the first time, that just gives me an excuse to revisit this lovely summit. But, as it is, it would be nice to know definitively how close I was to the true high point on Guyot during my first pass.

 

[Nate]

I just encountered another example of this when reviewing some materials last night. The day I hiked Breadloaf and Mount Wilson on the Long Trail, I went as far as Mount Roosevelt and Killington View before turning around. I know the Long Trail Guide says the trail passes over the summit of Roosevelt, but at the time bagging 3k's was not an objective, so I wasn't paying attention as to how close the trail passed to that peak's true high point. Considering the Guide doesn't mention where the true summits of Breadloaf and Wilson are, I'm not 100% confident I made it to the high point on Roosevelt.

 

[Mike P.]

Dr, I agree, Guyot is one of my favorite places on the whole loop, above Lafayette & Bond. (Lincoln, South Twin & West Bond the only places I'd place higher, this is personal list BTW, I could debate with myself where Garfield, Bondcliff fall in but why subject you to that )

I seem to recall an area just south (assuming the Twinway runs east-west from teh bond cliff jct over the Northeast summit) of the Twin way just a little bit higher than the trail.

If heading to Bonds from South Twin, I always hit both peaks just for a slightly different POV.

 

[nartreb]

The map in my edition of the WMG has a summit symbol on the north peak (not the one with the cairn). I've been on both peaks twice in good visibility, it's too close to call without a good clinometer. A few people have taken GPS measurements, as I recall the last one reported on this board found the north peak about a meter higher in repeated measurements. Unfortunately, GPS isn't really accurate enough to resolve the question.

 

[DougPaul]

The map in my edition of the WMG has a summit symbol on the north peak (not the one with the cairn). I've been on both peaks twice in good visibility, it's too close to call without a good clinometer. A few people have taken GPS measurements, as I recall the last one reported on this board found the north peak about a meter higher in repeated measurements. Unfortunately, GPS isn't really accurate enough to resolve the question.

Correct--A consumer hiking GPS altitude would not be good enough. However, a good barometric sensor might be. Some GPSes contain barometric sensors that might be good enough. It would require multiple measurements and running back and forth between the peaks to make sure it is repeatable. (Any auto-calibration mode would also have to be turned off.)

My USGS 1:24K topo shows both as breaking the same contour line (4560ft, 40 ft interval), but the DEM shows the N summit as 4570 and the S summit as 4560. (National Geographic TOPO! NE maps.)

Doug

 

[HighHorse]

Correct--A consumer hiking GPS altitude would not be good enough. However, a good barometric sensor might be. Some GPSes contain barometric sensors that might be good enough. It would require multiple measurements and running back and forth between the peaks to make sure it is repeatable. (Any auto-calibration mode would also have to be turned off.)

I would not believe any such claim unless you rigorously collected data, performed a hypothesis test, and were able to report your findings at a 95% confidence level. And were able to prove both the accuracy and precision of the instruments used in data collection, of course.

 

[Nate]

I guess this goes to show that there isn't really any consensus on where Guyot's highest point is, other than that it's on the north peak.

In this light, is my question regarding Mount Roosevelt a little easier to tackle?