VT 4k footers 9/5/04 17:22

[gilhuly]

Myself and three buddies (two of whom hiked the AT w/ me in 87 did the VT 4k footers Sunday. We began at 3:50 am at Mansfield and did that, Camel's Hump, Abraham, Ellen and Killington in that order completing the descent of killington at 9:12 pm. Weather was pretty good (nice and cool) each peak was unfortunately shrouded in cloud, except Ellen, which is wooded!

Many thanks to Mike, Dan and Danny for their spirit and companionship over the years. Special thanks to Mike for his initiative and leadership.

Matt Gilhuly

 

[alpinista]

Holy Cannoli! That's quite a feat. I'd love to see a full trip report on the hike.

 

[gilhuly]

Will Do. We're working up consistent data. One of the guys has split times, but had some accidental splits, so we need to reconcile our data. I know when we started and finished Mansfield for sure and Camel's Hump as well I think and we know when we started and finished Killington, but in the Abraham> Ellen section we shuttled cars and hiked a little under 5 hrs and had a number of bad splits in there. I'll get the group the exact route with times, trails used etc...

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Hey, way cool. A friend and I think that we may have also completed the same trip in 18 hours flat on Sunday, September 5th, but in reverse. Problem is that we hiked Sunset Ridge up Mansfield in the dark and cloud, and I have forgotten what the summit looks like (we could not see much with our LEDs, but did find a benchmark in bedrock near a lot of string about 100 meters upslope from a large sign post where the Sunset Ridge and Laura Cowles Trails join and the Long Trail does a dog leg on some boardwalks). My altimeter read 4300 ft, but my sense is that we were 100 or 200 meters too far south? But, when we tried following the LT, we began dropping down in both directions. Anyone know how many benchmarks are located on the summit ridge of Mansfield? We started up Killington at 6:15 am, and returned to the Underhill State Park campground gate at 12:15 am. Adding our driving times from NH and MA, we were busy for about 28 hours each.

 

[gilhuly]

More complete description

For those interested in the route and times:

9/5/04

3:50 AM Begin ascent Mansfield via LT to Profanity

5:25 AM Summit Mansfield Chin

6:40 AM Arrive back at car via same route as ascent

Drive to Camel's Hump etc 1:20

8:00 AM ascend Camel's Hump via Burrows Trail - no summit time

10:10 AM arrive back at car via Burrows Trail

Drive to Jerusalem Trail head, drop car, take 2nd car to Lincoln Gap 1:20

11:30 AM Ascend Abraham via LT to Ellen to Jerusalem Trail head. Continue down Jerusalem Trail to car

3:50 PM arrive Jerusalem Trail head

Get car at Lincoln, drive to Killington, get gas, take a dump 2:15

6:05 PM ascend Killington via Buckland/LT/summit spur

7:30 PM summit Killington

9:12 PM arrive at base of Killington

Time 17:22

Mileage 27.4

Vertical 10,000+

Avg. speed while not in car 2.17 mph

Calories ? (I think it's about 8-10,000)

Fluid consumed 220 oz, mostly Gatorade via Camelback

We set out to do this in 24 hrs, estimated 20 conservatively and came in at 17:22 with pretty much ideal hiking temperatures(50-60F). If we were a little better organized we could have done this in about 45 mins to an hour less, but we weren't going for speed other than to get as much in during daylight as possible.

We are 4 guys between the ages of 39 and I think 42-43

Mike Myers AT87, PCT 89, Northville Placid 02
Danny McCoy AT 87, PCT 89, Northville Placid 02
Matt Gilhuly AT 87, Northville Placid 02
Dan O'Connor Northville Placid 02, NY and Boston Marathons

This is very doable with some training on hills. Hydration with Gatorade or similar is key as are hiking companion(s) and radio communication as you will be half out of your mind when you get to Killington which is a tricky ascent if you haven't done it in a while.

 

[MarkJ]

Congrats!!

Thank's for not wakin me up!!Good to see early starters up thar'hikin....White Volvo,MJ

 

[gilhuly]

OK, you're one of the 2 guys in the cars at the bottom, I think. I hope you guys had a good day and celebrated sufficiently. I thought maybe you were the guy sleeping on top of the Chin! When I got radio comm to be careful not to step on the guy sleeping at the top I was like WTF? this guy is out there!

Congratulations on your LT completion!

 

[Michelle]

Congrats on the VT peaks in a day guys!

I was with Post'rboy and MJ on Sun. morning and chatted with the "Sleeper on the Chin".

Seems he got a great night's sleep until he was woken up by some weirdo's hiking in the dark

 

[gilhuly]

Yeah, really. Pick the psycho in this picture!

 

[RoySwkr]

Somehow I just have a gut feeling that hiking times should be recorded using hiking trails rather than ski trails, and I commend you guys for doing so.

You also seem to have run a self-contained expedition by doing your own driving, presumably the time could be shaved by an hour or so by having a chauffeur to shuttle you.

 

[gilhuly]

Yeah, I think that is what we figured - about an hour or so with support.