Posted by on Jan 16, 2012 in Mountaineering | 0 comments

Winter Climb of the Osceolas

Mt.Osceola Winter Climb
Mt.Osceola 4,340 ft. & East Osceola 4,156 ft. (2X)
8miles
-15to -20 degrees, 20 mph winds
January15, 2012
WesChapman
Tripyramidsfrom East Osceola
TheOsceolas – Mysteriously Named for a Seminole Indian Chief
Chief Osceola was a particularly valiant SeminoleIndian Chief in the second Seminole Indian War. Somehow – and for reasons apparentlylost to time – Mad River Peak, NH came to be renamed Osceola in the mid-19thCentury, and the name stuck. Mt. Osceola is a giant hunk of steep sidedgranite, and forms the northern boundary to Waterville Valley. In the winter,it is best accessed from the Kancamagus Highway via the Greeley Pond andOsceola trails. This is heavily glaciated country, and sports some noteworthycliffs all over both Osceolas. Because of the granite batholiths and theglaciation, this part of the White Mountains closely resembles the topographyof the Adirondacks, although the fundamental geology is quite different.
The team for this hike included Rick Morse, PeteVolanakis, Gary Rogers and me. We got a bit of a late start, assembling at theMcDonald’s in Lincoln at 8:45 AM, for a 9:45 start on the Hill. At breakfast wemet a couple of young mountaineers from MA, who had just spent a cool and breezynight on Mt. Liberty. These guys had been doing this every year for the last 12years, but felt that this year may have been the coldest to date – such funthey just coming back for more.
TheWhite Mountains at Daybreak from Moosilauke
TheClimb – up the Greeley Pond Trail
The Greeley Pond parking lot is just off theKancamagus Highway, and was almost full. As we unloaded our gear, we met acouple of guys just coming off Osceola, where they had spent the night camping.They indicated that the trail was packed snow and ice over both peaks, and thatsnowshoes were not needed – although crampons would be. It was a brisk -10degrees in the parking lot, so we dressed in light climbing gear and headed upwithout waiting around.
PeteVolanakis heading up Osceola
The first 1.5 miles on the Greeley Pond Trail to theOsceola Trail turnoff was just slightly uphill, and really nice walking. A littlebeyond the turnoff, the Trail gets quite steep and gains over 2,000 feet inless than a mile. Along here the group stretched out, and Pete headed back down– missing the truly spectacular views afforded from the summits. This hike isan out-and-back (requiring the climbing of East Osceola twice), although in thesummer it can be done as a through hike to Tripoli Rd.
The weather on the first summit – East Osceola waspretty frosty – between 15 & 20 below – and we waited for a while for Pete.The views were simply spectacular, but we cooled off quickly, and after about30 minutes were starting to get cold. We figured that Pete must have headedback down, and headed over to Osceola. The col between the two Osceola peaks isonly a mile, but quite steep on both sides, and made for some interestingtravel.
Woodson the summit of East Osceola
We wanted to get back down and pull our group backtogether, so we traveled quickly through the col – covering the mile to thesecond summit in just less than 30 minutes. The view from the summit of Osceolais one of the best in the White Mountains, and was magnificent in the clear,cold air. Unfortunately, it was cold enough to freeze my camera batteries, sowe did not get as many photos as the scenery merited.
Wes & Rick Morse on Osceola, with Mt. Washington in the background
Rick Morse & Gary Rogers on Osceola, with the Tripyramids in the background
Viewsfrom the Summit
We headed out at flank speed – which means somethingvery different for Gary than for the rest of us – he is really fast. We wereback at the truck by 3:30, and thoroughly frozen and hungry.
This hike is easier walking in the winter than summer, andaffords some of the best views in the White Mountains. You can see 41 of the 484,000 footers from both of the peaks, and the dry winter air really enhancedthe views. This is a four star hike, and a great way to spend a cold winterday. 


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Posted by on Jan 9, 2012 in Hiking, Mountaineering, Outdoor Fun, Prouty Prep Hikes | 1 comment

Winter Climb of Crocker Mountain in Maine

North and South Crocker Mountain
4,228 ft. & 4,052 ft.
Climbing Prep for The Presidential Ridge Winter Hike
The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-HitchcockNo rris Cotton Cancer Center)
Prep Hike #9 – 6.2 Miles
January 8, 2012
Wes Chapman
Southand North Crocker from Sugarloaf
The Crocker Mountains

Crocker Mountain is the 4th tallest mountain inMaine, with two peaks over 4,000 feet, both accessible via the AppalachianTrail. Skiing at Sugarloaf, I’ve looked at Crocker for over 50 years, but neverclimbed it in winter. Crocker has two giant glacial cirques clearly visible fromSugarloaf which appear tempting for spring skiing, but are probably impossibleto ski in any but the best snow winters. I have been planning to climb thePresidential Ridge in New Hampshire with my old friend Rudy Rawcliffe overPresident’s Weekend, and when Rudy called up proposing Crocker as a traininghike I jumped at the chance. The mild January weather has made skiing prettytough in the East, but the climbing has been great.

Rudy on the summit of South Crocker
The name Crocker dates back to the original naming of thetownships in the region, immediately after the purchase of 1 million acres ofland in the area by William Bingham in 1793. Crockertown was established on thewest side of the Carrabassett River, and the Town of Jerusalem on the east.This is cold and mountainous country, and Crockertown was first settled in 1880by two intrepid souls in the area of Campbell field.
We set off around 7:30 AM up the Caribou Pond Road on Rudy’sATV, covering the 4.5 miles to the Appalachian Trail in about 15 minutes –fabulous! After slogging through Adirondack Park all summer to get to the baseof the mountains, this was a real treat. The road was in pretty good shape, andthe snow depth increased slightly to around 4 inches by the time that we got tothe trailhead. The weather was sunny, around 20 degrees with a slight breezefrom the NW – a great day for a hike. There had been nobody into the trail – wehad the place to ourselves.
Crocker Mountain
The trail was snow covered, and had no obvious tracks – otherthan 3 moose, a fisher, two partridge and a fox. We were talking the whole wayup, otherwise I’m fairly sure that we would have seen one of the moose – thetracks were really fresh. It is really funny how the moose follow the hikingpaths all winter – right to the top of these Hills. By the time we got to thetop of the slides the snow was pretty deep in some drifts and the going was alittle slow. I was very glad that we did not have to walk the additional mileagefrom route 27.
On the slide above the pond in the cirque
Making snow on Sugarloaf across the Valley
Sugarloaf from the summit of South Crocker
Rudy on the summit of North Crocker
The hike over to North Crocker is only a mile, so we left ourpacks on the South Summit, and hoofed it over through the new snow. The summitwas in the clouds, so we beat a quick retreat back to our packs and lunch.
The Author dining al fresco on South Crocker
Crocker is a great winter hike, and offers some spectacularscenery and laudable ROC- return on climb. The views are limited from thesummit, but there are some terrific views from the slides. Next up – climbing the Oceolaswith my friends Rick Morse and Pete Volanakis.
Views across the cirques on Crocker

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Posted by on Jan 2, 2012 in Hiking, Outdoor Fun, Prouty Prep Hikes | 0 comments

Climbing Bigelow & Cranberry Peak over New Year

Bigelow Mountain & Cranberry Peak
4,145 ft. & 3,194 ft.
Two Warm Days of Hiking in Maine
The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-HitchcockNo rris Cotton Cancer Center)
Prep Hike #8 – 10.0 & 7.0 Miles
Dec. 31, 2011 & Jan. 1, 2012
Wes Chapman

Bigelow Mountain

BigelowWest Peak & Avery Peak from Sugarloaf Snowfields
Bigelow Mountain
Bigelow Mountain is actually a small mountain range in northernMaine, and includes two of Maine’s 4,000 foot peaks, Avery and West Peaks inits center, as well as Cranberry Peak which forms the western end of the range.The range is named for Major Timothy Bigelow, a division commander in theArnold Expedition to Quebec, who climbed the Hill, with his large dog, to helpdiscern the way through the Dead River and on to Quebec. That expedition endedin military disaster, and was equally disastrous for Major Bigelow’s dog whichwas finally eaten by his men as they faced starvation on their journey north.
I first climbed Bigelow in 1973 in a winter climb with a bunchof high school buddies. It has always been one of my favorite Maine hikes, andalways offers a great alternative to no-snow conditions at Sugarloaf – justacross the Carrabassett Valley. I had come for a couple of days of skiing at myold haunts in Sugarloaf Mountain, but warm and wet weather, coupled with acomplete lack of natural snow below 3,000 feet made skiing impossible. A coupleof days of climbing on Bigelow seemed to offer a great alternative. Our teamfor this two day climb, included Betsy Chapman, and my dog Baby, who gratefullyescaped the fate of Major Bigelow’s dog.
We set off around 9:00 AM up the Warden’s Trail to the colbetween West and Avery Peaks. The weather was 32 degrees, and raining – inshort ideal for a day long hike. There were two sets of tracks in front of us –presumably (based on stride length and shoe size) a man and a woman climbingjust ahead.     

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Bigelow Mountain

The trail was frozen (all 5 miles) into a long stream of ice,and the going was pretty slow and tricky. Fortunately, I had brought along anextra pair of Micro-Spikes for Betsy – without which the climb wouldn’t havebeen feasible. At 3,000 feet we started to encounter some natural snow, and bythe summit it was about 12 inches deep.
The Ice covered Warden’s Trail on Bigelow
Mrs. Baby waiting for lunch
Betsy having lunch at the Bigelow Col
The only bright spot of the day’s travels was when the rainstopped, and a peculiar view of the middle portion of Sugarloaf opened upacross the valley between a ground fog layer and a cloud layer at 3,500 feet.
The bare midriff of Sugarloaf from Bigelow
The next day – New Year’s – dawned clear and warm after amercifully early evening the night before. Earlier plans for a trip up Crockerwere shelved for an ascent of more modest ambitions – Cranberry Peak on thewestern end of the Bigelow range. 
Cranberry Peak – ATale of Fog and Snow Fleas
Cranberry Peak and the Horn
Cranberry Peak is accessed by a 3.2 mile trail up from the endof Currie Street in Stratton Maine. The trail and parking area areexceptionally well maintained – if a little difficult to locate. We started outaround 11:00, and the conditions on the trail were delightful – a sunny andwarm day with a walk through a spruce/hemlock forest. The trail turns steep andicy as it crosses Panberry Brook, and heads up the ridge. This brought with ita mile or so of fairly tough hiking, culminating with the first of three falsesummits.
Resting on the way up
The snow cover was fairly constant above 3,000 feet, and thewalk to the actual summit was up and down over icy ledges and through a coupleof boulder fields – pretty slow going. We saw tracks and sign from moose,rabbits, partridge and foxes. The summit was pea soup fog and enough of abreeze to make it an undesirable lunch spot.
Betsy on the Summit
On the descent, we notice that the snow was covered withmillions of tiny blue/black dots – and they were jumping! It was my firstintroduction to a mass exodus of snow fleas – the snow was actually grey incolor. These tiny creatures are not really fleas at all, but are actually springtails.These peculiar bugs have twin rod-like tails that they use to jump much like aflea. They live on dead fungus and bacteria and have a unique protein (anatural anti-freeze) which allows them to operate at sub-zero temperatures withoutproducing ice crystals and dying. The protein was recently synthesized atQueen’s University in Canada, with hopes of producing a better solution fortransplant organ storage – or a viable alternative for those interested incryogenic immortality.
A snow flea – springtail
The trip down was fast, and the first false summit offered somenice views to the west. It would be wonderful if the New Year brought with itsome snow – so we could enjoy this Hill on AT gear. Happy New Year.
The view from Cranberry Ridge
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