Inside The Moments - Winter Hiking: Planning A Single Winter Season Attempt of the 48 White Mountain 4000 Footers

Pondering the idea of planning and completing a single winter season of the 48 4000-footers and New England 4000-Footers were probably the two most exciting things I've ever done.  Indeed the hardest for sure, because they took months of planning, and weeks after week(ends) of execution (two years in a row).  In my younger days, I had incredible experiences playing youth and high school hockey and winning championships, but now, taking on my own challenges in the mountains has replaced those feelings of competitiveness and pursuit of challenging goals.  Winter peak-bagging does the trick.  Pursuing peak lists one after the other, and many all at once allows for a special kind of drive and motivation fed on by the magic of the mountains.  A single-winter season of the 4000-footers will leave you with an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

Looking back at Mt. Lincoln while ascending Mt. Lafayette at sunset
December 26, 2011

The end of 2011 and through the first half of 2012 was another memorable time period because I was going strong, doing some solid solo winter hikes as well as accompanying my brother on his own successful completion of the 48 in less than a year.  Looking back at my notes, it was September 2011 when I first starting researching and pondering the idea of a single winter season of the 48.  By starting the blog, writing trip reports, and keeping statistics on my adventures, I had all of the standard hike information on past hikes, which makes planning repeat hikes nice and easy.  This included about twenty-six 4000-footers in the winter prior to the '12-'13 winter season, so being really involved, it was easy as pie gathering the winter hike information I needed for those I had not done yet in winter.  It's a matter of doing the homework, and reading the past trip reports of others.  As much as I've hiked solo, I've learned from all of those in the hiking community who write and share their experiences like I do.  The point of all this, is that at my fingertips, I already had the information to plan approximately how many miles, how much elevation gain, how many hours, and how many hiking days, how much driving, it might take me to do a single winter season of the 4000-footers.  Keeping the stats in an excel sheet will do wonders for your trip planning, especially when the task is great.  I couldn't imagine not keeping an excel sheet of some kind.

Heavy trail breaking may be required any day. Always be prepared.
Mt. Osceola Trail, December, 2012

Especially as a full-time professional (community association property management at the time), finding the time to hike the 48 peaks within a two and a half month span in the winter is extremely difficult.  For me, it meant availability on only weekends, a few long weekends, and any vacation time I got available to fit in my hobby of peak-bagging.  While only having weekends available to hike was a tough challenge, it required longer hikes, longer days, and sometimes more than two hikes in a day, all of which needed to be planned out for weekends (Saturday and Sunday).  If it was a Monday holiday weekend, like MLK and President's Day, then great, those were extra days, and open to fit a hike in on.  I've done some awesome past hikes on MLK Day, President's Day, and New Year's Eve.  Of course, if one can plan a vacation for any period in the winter, that gives five to seven more possible hiking days for the winter.  If you are free to hike during the week days, then planning them out is much, much easier.

With all of the things I've explained above in mind, here is how I set up my excel sheet to prepare and plan an entire winter of hiking.

1. Set up an excel spreadsheet with the following columns:

Date

Peaks

Hike Distance (mi.)

Elevation Gain (ft.)

Book Time

Trails

# of 4000 Footers

2. Under the date column, enter all of the individual days you have available between the exact time of the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox to hike. I preferred to write out the day, as well, that way you can see the weekends, and/or you may have specific week-days available to hike. The start of your sheet may look like this....

Date	Peaks
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013

3.  If you already have your hike stats saved out in excel from any previous hikes, your planning is much easier.  Now you just have to insert the 4Ks of the hike, hike distance, elevation gain, possible book time, trails used, and # of 4,000-footers, within the dates, which you think you can take on those hikes.  For me, it was copying and pasting my stats into this new sheet for the winter planning.  Enter all of the information below for the peaks/hikes until you have a full plan for the 48 peaks.  The best thing to do, is plan enough extra days at the end of the winter season as make up days for changes you may need to make along the way.

Date	Peaks	Distance (mi.)	Elevation Gain (ft.)	Book Time (hr:mm)	Trails	# of 4000 Footers
Saturday, December 22, 2012	North Tripyramid Middle Tripyramid Mt. Whiteface Mt. Passaconaway	16.7	5250	...	Downes Brook Trail Downes Brook Slide Trail Dicey's Mill Trail Rollins Trail Kate Sleeper Trail Mt. Tripyramid Trail Pine Bend Brook Trail	1-4
Thursday, December 27, 2012	Mt. Osceola Mt. Osceola, East	7.6	3100	...	Greeley Ponds Trail Mt. Osceola Trail	5-6
Saturday, January 5, 2013	Cannon Mt. Kinsman Mt. Kinsman, South	13	4700	...	Kinsman Ridge Trail Fishin' Jimmy Trail	7-9
Sunday, January 6, 2013	Tom Field Willey	10	3400	...	A-Z Trail Mt. Tom Spur Willey Range Trail Avalon Trail	10-12

Continue until all 48 are planned.

4.  So now, I have all of the hike information I need to complete the 48 in a single winter in a trusty excel worksheet, and its organized into a feasible plan that I think I'm capable of physically.  Don't forget to take into consideration your driving distance and times, and your car spots.  This was especially a major consideration for undertaking the NE67 in a single winter, where I drove 98 hours and over 5000 miles across snowy New England.  Past experience played a lot into the planning of the hikes.  Take the time to switch around the peaks and dates according to your past experience, book times, and upcoming forecasts before the winter starts, and be able to be flexible all throughout the winter.  Take these examples:  I completed a Wildcats to Moriah traverse twice already (once each way) before I did it in winter; I had done a Moosilauke and Tecumseh double hit and run already, and also, did Cabot and Waumbek separately in a single day once before attempting to do them the same way in winter.

Always pack a shovel and 4x4, in case you need to
shovel out parking lots like Appalachia after a blizzard.

Among the other smaller 4K hikes, I planned a winter pemi loop, a winter presidential traverse, and another hike with two peaks, but those three hikes turned into five hikes on my 1st season attempt, so I managed to only need to do two extra total hikes outside of my original plan - not bad.  This showed me that I have a pretty good perception on my physical ability both in summer and winter.  I guess I was still a little nuts thinking I might be able to do this by including all of the typical "death march" hikes.  The weather is guaranteed to come into play with your scheduled.  I wasn't surprised when the Presi Traverse got split up by weather. It was blizzard Nemo.  It was the morning after the blizzard that I had to shovel out Appalachia, just to be able to get Madison, Adams, Jefferson in.  An abnormally warm weekend in January of 2013 resulted in a shortened Pemi Loop attempt, which in turn resulted in me doing a Galehead to Hale hike, which was a memorable hike in 0 degree weather all day.  you have to be ready for anything.

With that, here are some final planning tips and things to think about before considering this challenge:

• Always plan for the possibility that you will have to shovel out your parking spot at the trail head, plan the extra time or just be ready for the challenge.  Pack a shovel, blanket and extra warm clothes.
• Especially for the NE67in1, car camping was necessary. Consider packing the sleeping bag, stove, and extra snacks and a fresh 2nd set of hiking clothes for your 2nd hike that weekend.
• You might have to drive through blizzards and hazardous road conditions, so make sure you have a capable vehicle prepared for set-backs, such as flat tires, cracked windshields, or accidental snow bank collisions, and getting into and out of un-plowed trail heads.
• You might arrive to the trail head to find that you'll be breaking trail all the way to the summit. 
• Certainly, you should check TrailsNH.com and other online sources for assistance with at least knowing what you might expect for trail conditions.  Read prior year trip reports for additional useful information.
• There will be many early starts and finishes in the dark. It's ok, there's  nothing to worry about in the woods, because most likely you will have been there once before you consider this challenge, and you can't be afraid of the dark to take this on.  Always bring 3 sources of light (2 headlamps and a flashlight w/ extra batteries for 1 headlamp and the reg. light).
• Always let family and friends know your exact plans, and be able to contact them regularly, if needed.
• Have fun, and embrace the challenges, should you consider it.  Even after doing half the 48 in winter before, it was still the toughest thing I'd ever done, but I was ready for those challenges. 

So there you have it - basic instructions showing how I set up my excel sheet, and some planning ideas and tips for your own attempt at a single-season of the 4000-footers.  By hiking all winter in 2012-2013, I had planned for some epic moments in between, such as finishing my 3rd round on Mt. Jackson, descending 2 peaks on sled, climbing Mt. Washington by Huntington Ravine, and finishing both my 1st winter 48 and my 1st single season attempt on West Bond with an epic sunrise hike.  It's all about the journey and experiences.  Peak-bagging, for me, isn't about the numbers, but its a way to live it up and take in epic experiences, because every hike is different.  Whether you want to take the planning as serious or not, that's totally up to you and certainly not required, but I never would have experienced so many incredible and epic hikes without the detailed planning.

To see my final spreadsheet for my 2012-2013 W48-in-1 season, CLICK HERE.
To see my final spreadsheet for my 2013-2014 W67-in-1 season, CLICK HERE.
My Journal of hiking the New England 4000-Footers Solo in a Single Winter Season (2013-2014)

Here is a video of my experience hiking the single season of the 48 4,000 footers.

Remember that the mountain will always be there. While this is a personal challenge with obvious risks to consider, always make good decisions for your own safety.  Good Luck, Stay Safe, and Have fun! Make every hike one to remember!

Mt. Washington, February 2012

Dont forget, you can check out special blog posts I've done related to my experiences, including specific winter hiking experiences, by checking out the other episodes of what I call, Inside the Moments.

Mt. Rainier 2014: Exploring the Pacific Northwest

I knew last year that this summer I was going to be climbing Mt. Rainier, but come June, I did not have anything booked yet.  If I was going to go for it, my next biggest climbing goal, its simply up to me to just do it.  I watched as some of the climb dates with RMI slowly start to fill up.  It was mid-June when I pulled the trigger and booked a final spot on a Labor Day weekend climb with RMI.  Just like that, I was going to climb Rainier, and within a few short weeks I had my complete plan in place to fly out to the Pacific Northwest and join RMI for a 4-day program and 2-day summit attempt of Rainier. (Click Here to read my first post and full adventure plan.) This was the first time that I've ever flown alone, out of 4 round trip flights in my life.  It was going to be an adventure for sure.  I left Boston at 7:00am on Friday, August 29th, and enjoyed a nice flight into Portland, Oregon.  I flew just above the clouds for the entire route across the country, over the mountains of the mid-west, and saw Rainier and Adams just before landing.  It was pretty eerie going in for the landing through the clouds, the tarmac showed just a few seconds before the wheels hit the ground.  I don't know how the pilot saw the runway.  Anyways, and there I was in Portland, Oregon.

Leaving Logan

Sea of clouds

Mountain ranges

Rainier in the back, Adams on the right. 

After arrival, I retrieved my rental car for the week from Enterprise.  I was being offered a pick-up, a suburban, and a couple of others, but I asked about and retrieved a brand new GMC Terrain.  I drove a GMC Terrain when me and my brother went out to Mt. Whitney, so I lucked out, taking a car I've used before.  Although it would have been nice to see Portland a little bit, I drove right up to Ashford to the Whittaker's Bunkhouse.  That afternoon, I checked in and settled in.  I reserved a one-bedroom with private bathroom for 4 nights in a row, plus 1 night after my climb.  The room consisted of a double bed, two nightstands, alarm clock, ample lighting, and a full bathroom with a really hot shower.  Everything was clean, every day, and it was pretty much worth the $90 per night. That night, I did supper simple, and walked next door the Basecamp Grille and had a bacon burger, which was small but very good. 

GMC Terrain rental car

Whittaker's Bunkhouse & Motel - Ashford, WA 

Bacon burger from the Basecamp Grille

Although I did have most of the day after I arrived, I had decided to take it easy because of the cloudy, drizzly weather.  I basically settled into my little abode to plan out the next day, which I had a full day to do whatever.  I woke up the next morning (a Saturday morning) and enjoyed a coffee outside the bunkhouse cafe, not knowing what the day ahead really held for me.  All I know, was that I was going for a little road trip of exploration, so off I went.

I was eyeing a few possible hikes to do before I started the climb program.  One I was reading about is Mt. Wow (6,040'), which is a bushwhack from a nearby forest road.  The first thing I did this day was take a ride up the road to scout out the start of the hike.  The road was fine for a while, but it got pretty rough and steep.  At the end of the road, as I had read, I came to the spot where the supposed bushwhack starts.  Its kind of crazy being across the entire country, alone, at the end of and up a mountain forest road that's only wide enough for the car, and just drive-able enough. So I had scoped out this starting spot, but it certainly looked as if it was a bit too difficult to get into with my limited time the next day. Its cool to know for next time. Don't bother asking any locals about Mt. Wow, they have no idea where it is. Some info on Mt. Wow.

The start of the bushwhack to Mt. Wow, Goat Creek on left.

4 miles up a mountain road

I then drove the approximately 4 miles back down the main road, which goes into Rainier National Park.  Then I drove right past Whittaker's, and took a state highway north, headed towards Olympia, setting off on my road trip for the rest of the day.  I drove past the Capitol Building in Olympia and through the city, headed west.  Driving in the Pacific Northwest was amazing, with its super tall and straight pines.  When you see a logging area in Maine or something, it has nothing on the logging swaths which I saw while driving west toward the coast.    

Washington State Capital 

Typical highway in Washington State

I continued west and found myself in Aberdeen, WA.  At that point I was seeking a spot to take in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever.  I seemed to notice that there wasn't really any beaches, so I knew I had to dive a little bit more south.  I looked at my navigation on my phone, and figured Long Beach would be a good target.  It took me about an hour or more to get further south, so it was interesting leg of the road trip.  I would later find out from talking to a few people that Aberdeen is considered one of the dumpier towns in Washington.  Nobody goes there. haha.

Long Beach, WA 

Long Beach, WA panorama

Eventually, I made it to Long Beach, which was a nice beach town.  It reminded me of Old Orchard, but without as much bustle and no attractions.  I parked as close as I could, and made my way out onto the beach.  The beach was beautiful and extremely large in size.  It was quite exciting, even by myself, to jaunt out to the water's edge, and step foot in the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  

The moment my feet were in the Pacific Ocean for the first time 

After spending at least a half hour or so out on the beach, I figured I would keep on trucking along my road trip loop.  I was 150 miles, and 3 hours away from Ashford.  I didn't really expect this, but as I head back out of Long Beach, I found myself at the Columbia Bridge and the Columbia River.  What an intense spot. 

Columbia River from the Washington side. 

Driving over the Columbia Bridge

I pulled off to the side next to the bridge to check my navigation, and to take a few pictures of the river and bridge.  Little did I expect, I was crossing back into Oregon, and almost near Portland again.  What a trip this was! I drove a little over 300 miles, all day long, and had quite an experience seeing some of the area.  It was a little cloudy that evening as I made my way back to Ashford.  I pretty much just missed everything nearby closing at 8:00pm, so I had to go back out about 7 miles to Pizza Express, where I indulged on a delicious large pizza to my face. 

Pizza Express 

The next day (Sunday), I had the climb orientation at 3:00pm in the afternoon.  I woke up, got some coffee and packed a super light pack for a quick hike.  I drove back up the forest road I scouted out the day before, but this time, I continued up a different fork in the road to the trail head to another peak, Mt. Beljica (5,475').  Looking for something short to hike to get in the rhythm, I had looked it up.  Again, no one around Basecamp had seemingly ever heard of Mt. Beljica (literally 4 miles away), so could not offer me any tips when I was asking for short hike suggestions. 

Whittaker's Bunkhouse & Motel Cafe

Mt. Beljica is just a short 1.4 miles  and 1,100 foot ascent from the start of the Christine Lake Trail.  There was a simple sign-in and forest permit form, which I attached to my pack.  I started up the trail, and began my first hike in the PNW, and right on the edge of Rainier National Park.

   

Christine Lake Trail 

Entering Glacier View Wilderness

The trees were huge, the trail was flat, and it was quiet and beautiful.  I entered the Glacier View Wilderness, and in just a few short minutes, came over a little bump and rounded the shores of a beautiful Christine Lake.

Christine Lake

Getting the heart rate up, I sped up the easy trail, hooked a left where there was a spur for Mt, Beljica,  The Christine Lake Trail continues on to the right for some distance.  I hopped up a rooty and eroded path, and broke out onto an exposed summit.  I head towards the highest point, and quickly realized I was on a dramatic summit with at least several hundred foot drop-off to one edge, and a pretty intense weather-y view out over the mountains near Mt. Rainier.  The cloud cover was too much to see Mt. Rainier or any glaciers, but it was an intense feeling of risk there up on the top rock of the summit, where there was a marker. A surprise for sure, and a tremendous feeling of excitement as I was back at home (over 4,000 feet) and in just a few short hours, I would be meeting my climbing team and guides.

Mt. Beljica summit marker 

Steep summit perch 

View from Mt. Beljica

The hike was a total of 2.8 miles, 1,100 feet of elevation in an hour and a half.  I drove back down the crazy mountain road, and got ready to go to the RMI climb orientation.  All this excitement, all this experience, all of which was going according to plan, and I had yet to set foot on the slopes of Mt. Rainier.  That would all start to take place shortly.  After meeting the team and guides for introductions, I decided on a solo full course steak dinner and local beer at the Copper Creek Inn & Restaurant.  The server was as friendly as could be and the food was simply excellent.  I even had their signature blackberry pie.  Feeling full, happy, and excited, I returned to my room for the night, as tomorrow, I would set foot on Mt. Rainier, and start preparing for the biggest climb of my life.

A narrow section along the forest road

Steak from Copper Creek Inn & Restaurant 

My next Mt. Rainier post will be the trip report on the mountaineering day school, and my experience climbing to the summit of Mt. Rainier with RMI Guides over two days.  Stay tuned!

Summit of Mt. Beljica (5,475')

Presidential Traverse - 9/7/14

On Sunday, September 7th, just 48 hours after the end of an exciting trip out west to climb Mt. Rainier, I set out to celebrate with a full Presidential Range Traverse.  I enjoy returning "home" and celebrating with a good adventure, taking those good feelings from a successful trip and bringing them back to savor on the peaks that got it all started.  I had eight Presidential Traverses under my belt, including four already in 2014, this would be my 5th.  I've done times of 20hrs, 15hrs, 13hrs, 10:50, 10:45, and my best previous time was 10:20.  Most of those times didn't include Jackson, or they were at night, or in winter or I was trying to do a Double Presidential Traverse.  However, the 10:20 best time was a north-bound full, including Jackson, so I found myself in Crawford Notch, with a goal to see if I could get under 10hrs.  I also just could not pass up a Presi Day, because that is what the forecast called for.

Walking from the shuttle to the Jackson-Webster Trailhead 

Jackson-Webster Trail

So then started the theme of the day, I passed some hikers on the way up.  I prefer the northbound presi traverse, as the route to the ridge and Mt. Jackson is pretty short and easy compared to the Valley Way.  From my previous traverses, I've been able to get great starts starting this way because its a lot easier when you get to the ridge faster.  When I got to the summit of Jackson, it was cool and in some clouds.  I noticed that I was at about an hour or a few minutes over that, so I was about 20 minutes behind what I've done before up to Jackson.  In true peak-bagger fashion, I was off to Pierce after a quick summit snapshot and a look around.  There were some folks enjoying the now crystal clear views from Mt. Pierce, as the clouds disappeared mostly for good.

Mt. Jackson 

Coming right up.....a beautiful and lucky September day on the Presi's

Mt. Pierce summit (1hr49min)

Even though I was cruising along, as I started to ascend Eisenhower the views and magnitude of this beautiful day started to take full effect.  It was just so fun to be up there taking it all in on such a nice day, yet at the same time I was enjoying kicking my own ass as much as possible with this workout.  Eisenhower was busy, and it was nice to see some friends Michael and Monica again (albeit quickly), who I've bumped into all over New England.  I basically left Eisenhower in a good run.  I felt like I was certainly making up for the few minutes I was disappointed about back on Jackson.  The next section over Franklin to Mt. Monroe is almost always pretty peaceful and quiet.

Mt. Eisenhower (in 2hrs 23min) 

Leaving Mt. Eisenhower 

Jefferson, Washington, and Monroe, and Oakes Gulf, and the Montalban Ridge behind it (I think)

Mt. Monroe (3hrs 20min with only 10 minutes of stopped time)

As you can see, I'm  on par with my plans, making great time at the beginning of a northbound traverse.  In 3hrs 20min, I was on Mt. Monroe, a little over seven miles and 4,700 feet of gain from the start.  It was my 14th summit of Mt. Monroe, and its always nice to think back to that morning I finished my 48 here.  After a quick pause, I ran to Lake of the Clouds Hut where I stopped only to switch out my t-shirt for my long-sleeved shirt with hood.  A quick check of the weather informed me that the wind chill was about 31 degrees up on Washington.  I was looking forward to it, as this was my 20th summit push for Mt. Washington.

Lake of the Clouds 

Final push up the summit cone         

I passed the always spectacular Lake of the Clouds, and pushed my legs up the highest peak in New England.  It took me about 45 minutes to reach the summit from LOC.  While that is a pretty solid section I was happy about, this is where it starts to get tough and I've always watched my pace start to diminish from this point on.  When I got the summit, I immediately walked past the sign and touched it.  The wind was definitely making it feel like 31 degrees which is pretty cold, especially with shorts and no windbreaker.  There, of course, was a line at the summit.  I quickly stepped in line, but after about 45 seconds, I said screw this, this is going to come back to haunt me and my goal of breaking my previous time.  I walked forward and snapped a quick summit selfie and a couple of shots of the views.

What its like to wait in line 

20th Mt. Washington summit 

On to the Northern Presidentials...

I remember taking about a 5-10 minute break on the Gulfside Trail overlooking the ravine.  Much better to take a break over here where its nice and peaceful.  After that, I continued onto Clay.  I bumped into another acquaintance from VFTT, Tim, along this section, enjoying a northern presi hike on this day.  Next was the long stretch of ascent on the approach to Mt. Jefferson.  This is where it sometimes really starts to slow you.  Trying to overcome that adversity which I was aware of, I kept pushing.  I arrived at the summit of Mt. Jefferson in six hours, just a few minutes before 3:00pm.

Mt. Jefferson, my 100th White Mountain 4000-footer in 2014 

Mt. Adams as seen from Mt. Jefferson

Certainly, I was doing well on this traverse, but I was thinking about the next four hours and the remaining 7 miles or so which puts up a beating every time.  Would I get the two remaining peaks and all the way down the 4 mile Valley Way in those four hours or was I going to fall off the pace? After a couple minutes of pondering, the mind snaps and reminds me that if its going to happen, I have keep going and not think.

The section coming down Jefferson into Edmands col can be tiring on the legs, but without stopping, I descended and then head back up about 900 feet to the summit of Mt. Adams.  It took me an hour from Mt. Jefferson.

Looking back from Mt. Adams

It was really windy, as usual, with some clouds building over Washington.  After a quick stop, I labored on using all 4 limbs to quickly make my way down the Airline Trail to Madison Hut.  Without stopping for anything, not even a pack drop, I continued up the Osgood Trail a half mile to Mt. Madison.

Mt. Madison summit (8hrs from the start)

View from Mt. Madison

Standing atop Mt. Madison, I now had just under two hours to make it down within 10 hours, and a little more to just match my best time of 10hrs 20min.  I knew I could do it, but it was going to be close.  The race was on.  I had such an incredible time above treeline on this hike.  You couldn't ask for a better gym.  I was seriously saddened to descend, but quickly my goal came back to mind, so I busted out my hiking poles, and I started my skipping, running, and jogging effort to get to my car.  Thankfully it was not as painful as it was descending here during my double presi.  I arrived at Appalachia, just a few minutes before sunset.  I finished in 9 hours and 50 minutes, beating my best time by a half hour, and getting under 10 hours.  After all, those minutes I didn't wait in line on Washington came into effect.  I was pretty darn happy about my effort, and its amazing how much you can still surprise yourself at what your capable of by always challenging yourself.  After this hike, where I pretty much didn't stop, I can say that I don't think I could do a northbound presi traverse any faster without shedding gear and the pack and running it.  I will have to try a "fast" southbound traverse someday, but for now I'm feeling good on this one, and looking forward to my next big traverse this week, the Mahoosuc Range, which I'm doing with some adventurous friends.

Hike Stats

Trails: Jackson-Webster Trail, Webster Cliff Trail, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop, Monroe Loop, Trinity Heights Connector, Gulfside Trail, Clay Loop, Jefferson Loop, Israel Ridge Path, Airline Trail, Osgood Trail, Valley Way Trail.

Distance: 19 miles

Elevation Gain: 8,503 ft.

Actual Book Time: 9:50
GPS Track: Garmin Adventures