Posted by on Mar 18, 2012 in Hiking, Outdoor Fun, Prouty Prep Hikes | 0 comments

Winter Climbing – Mt Monroe and Mt. Eisenhower

Prouty Logo
Mt.Monroe 5,372 & Mt. Eisenhower 4,780
12.5Miles, March 17, 2012
The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-HitchcockNorris Cotton Cancer Center)
WesChapman
PresidentialRidge 3/17/2012 from Mt. Eisenhower
PresidentialRidge from Mt. Nancy 3/10/2010
Mt.Monroe & Mt. Eisenhower in pseudo-winter hiking
Arriving at the parking lot at the base of theAmmonoosuc Ravine Trail (meaning fish place in Abenaki) and the Cog Railway, Iwas struck that I had forgotten my skis. The parking lot was full of intrepidback country skiers, out looking for some snow. After a largely snowless winter,we are enduring a preposterously warm spring, and these skiers were hoping tobeat the odds. As the photos above make painfully clear, these guys were abouttwo years too late.
This was to be my last “winter” hike of the season,and I really wanted to get out and enjoy what was left of the snow. I came withouteither human or canine companionship; human caused by complications and/or slothon the part of my climbing buddies, and canine caused by breakable crust androtten snow – both really tough on dogs. These were my 20th and 21stNew England 4,000 footers of the winter, and would finish off the southern endof the Presidential Ridge. This has been a great season for hiking –specifically because it has had no competition from skiing – which is a sad anddisturbing situation.
The day started out warm and foggy, which turnedspectacular as I climbed up the Ammonoosuc Ravine trail and through the fog. Ipassed a couple of guys struggling up the step, icy path on skis with skins,and another poor unfortunate with neither crampons or Microspikes. The cloudsacross the valley reminded me of what the area must have looked like under thecontinental glacier. Prospectively, I wonder what it will look like with palmtrees as beach front property. The trail was really fast with the rightfootwear, and I was passed Lake of the Clouds and on the top of Monroe in under2 hours.
   
ValleyFog seen from Lake of the Clouds Hut
Valleyfog from the trail
FranconiaRidge from Mt. Monroe
Hikersenjoying the sun at Lake of the Clouds
(Originallynamed Washington’s Punchbowl)
The route along the hike affords views of at least35 of the 4,000 footers in the White Mountains, and temperatures in the 50’salowed light outerwear and high speed. Only the rotten snow posed much of anissue, and it was a small price to pay for such a day. The trip to Eisenhowerwas via Crawford path, and then out to Mt. Clinton Rd. via Edmand’s path. Goingdown Edmand’s path I followed someone who had multiple wrecks in the crustyrotten snow – with a leave-behind of equipment resembling a yard sale. I pickedup most of the “lost items” and left them at the signup station on Clinton Road– if the unfortunate climber happens to be reading this blog.
Pierce,Eisenhower (originally Pleasant Dome) and Franklin from Monroe
Mt.Isolation
Mt.Willey

 

Mt.Nancy from Monroe, with Jackson in the foreground
Washington,Monroe and Franklin from Eisenhower
It’s been a great winter hiking, and I hope that Ican entice my climbing buddies to come out to play in the in New England andthe Adirondacks this summer. We’ll be off the trails for the next few weeks toallow the frost to come out of the ground and minimize soil erosion. Perhapssome spring skiing on Mt. Hood in the meantime would take the sting out of what will surely proveto be a lackluster and snowless season in Tuckerman Ravine.
Adios from Mt. Washington
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Posted by on Mar 13, 2012 in Highpointing, Mountaineering, Outdoor Fun | 0 comments

Winter Climb of Mt Katahdin with the AMC

Mt. Katahdin 5,267 ft.
18.0 Miles, March 10, 2012
Wes Chapman
Mt. Katahdin from Abol Stream atsunset
Mt.Katahdin (The Greatest Mountain in Penobscot Indian)
Mt. Katahdin is the tallest mountain in Maine, the northernterminus of the Appalachian Trail and one of my favorite Hills on the planet. Ifirst climbed Katahdin in 1963 at the age of 8, and I have climbed it at leasta dozen of time since – but until last weekend, never in the winter. Themountain is a 400 million year old hunk of granite – much harder than thesurrounding rock, and a superb place to study glacial geomorphology. Katahdinsits in the center of Baxter State Park, a 200,000+ acre wildlife sanctuary andpreserved natural area donated originally by Percival Baxter, a former governorof Maine. Governor Baxter was a native son of Maine, graduate of BowdoinCollege and Harvard Law School, and the scion of a prominent Maine family witha significant timber fortune.
The Skull on Katahdin from StumpPond
Baxter was a great example of a vanishing breed – theNortheast Republican. Fiscally conservative and socially relaxed, Baxterbelieved in the power of the individual to contribute to society as a whole,and Baxter park is his crowning achievement, with Katahdin perhaps the crownjewel. He bought the Mountain for $25,000 in the Depression, and assembled therest of the land for the Park by 1933, donating it to the State with theproviso that it “…shall forever be used for public park and recreationalpurposes, shall be forever left in the natural wild state, shall forever bekept as a sanctuary for wild beasts and birds, that no road or ways for motorvehicles shall hereafter ever be constructed thereon or therein.” And so it istoday – much to the delight of the wild beasts and climbers alike.
Percival Baxter with his dog GaryOwen
Sunrise on Katahdin from Stump Pond
Baxter was a bit of an eccentric, and had the flags at theState House flown at half-mast to note the passing of his beloved Irish setter,Gary Owen, stating, “His spirit lives on and through him.Dumb animals the world over will be treated more kindly and mercifully.” It wasalso reported that he commented on the obvious superiority of Gary Owen to anumber of his political rivals, but not for attribution.
Up theHill with the AMC  
At the suggestion of my old pal Rudy Azim Rawcliffe, we hadbeen planning to climb Katahdin on March 3 in an Appalachian Mountain Club(AMC) led expedition, which was mercifully postponed for a week due toinclement weather – 100+ mph winds and driving sleet.
We joined a band of 9 brothers (the one sister couldn’t makeit) in Millinocket Maine for an altogether too brief overnight, followed by a3:30 am launch at Katahdin on March 10th via the Abol Slide Trail. Whata difference a week makes. We had enjoyed a week of unseasonably warm weatherwhich left the trail solid ice, but really fast. This was a headlamp time ofday, but a nearly full moon provided all of the light that most of us needed onthe 5 mile hike into Abol Campground. Rudy had suggested that we get our handson some drag-sleds to take the weight of our packs on the 10 miles of hikingoff the Mountain. He borrowed one from a friend, and I made a very stylish sled– fit for Sargent Preston himself – from a sale item at EMS and some PVC pipe.
Rudy prepares his sled in thepre-dawn at Abol Trailhead
Despite years of climbing all over the northeast, this wasthe first AMC led hike for either one of us – and we didn’t know what toexpect. We were both contacted a couple of times by the trip leaders, Jeff andSpencer, and got our equipment and expectations lined up. It turns out that Spenceris a Dartmouth ’01 environmental sciences major, getting a PhD at U Maine in forestry.His wife is a Dartmouth ’02 geologist, and they live with their two year oldson in Hampden, our old hometown – we had plenty to talk about. These guys dida terrific job, and it was a lot of fun climbing with the entire team – the hookis set for AMC led hikes. We’ll be back.
The hike in is fairly flat until about 2.5 miles from AbolCampground, where you start to gain some elevation and come to Stump Pond wherewe got some nice views of sunrise over the Mountain. From the campground, it isjust over a mile to the start of Abol Slide Trail, which is steep, faces south,and was a long sheet of frozen snow and ice. The slide is about 2,250 feet ofsteep climbing, but very direct and quite a bit of fun.
A steep climb up Abol Slide
Spencer (L) and Jeff (C) at a breakon the approach
Rudy on Abol Slide
Wes climbing the Slide
Above 2,500 feet, most of the vegetation is red spruce and lesseramounts of fir trees. The red spruce readily hybridizes with black spruce inthis part of the country. One particularly interesting phenomena are thedevelopment of waves of vegetation, called fir waves. These are caused by winddestruction and very slow regrowth patterns, and have been studied in a limitednumber of places including Katahdin and Mt. Fuji in Japan.
Fir waves on South Brother Mt. seenfrom Mt. Katahdin
Slides on Doubletop Mountain
Mt. Hamlin from Baxter Peak
The Team at the Summit
Spencer at the Summit – Preparing fortakeoff
The summit was sunny, the views tremendous and the windsfrom the West at 10-15 mph – all together delightful. You can putatively seemore lakes from the summit than any other place on earth – and I remain to beconvinced otherwise. The trip down was fast and uneventful – the best kind. Welanded back in Millinocket at Ruthie’s Restaurant and Terrace Motel – the besteats in town and tremendously entertaining conversation with Ruthy and herdaughter.
Jeff and Spencer did a great job putting this trip together,the climbing team was terrific and the weather was about as good as it gets. Itmay be possible to spend a better day on a more iconic mountain, but not if youare from Maine.
Adios from Katahdin
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Posted by on Mar 7, 2012 in Outdoor Fun, Prouty Prep Hikes | 0 comments

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with Prouty Mountaineering

Climbing Kilimanjaro – the Main Event
The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-HitchcockNorris Cotton Cancer Center)
March 7, 2012
Wes Chapman
The concept at the heart of The Prouty is simple – get peopleto engage in the outdoors and raise money to fight cancer for ourNCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Over the last several years I’vedrifted more into the hills and mountains of the Northeast, and thenincreasingly around the world. I absolutely love doing it, but I want to makeit more than just climbing mountains – I wanted to make ahiking/climbing/mountaineering program part of the Prouty. After all AudreyProuty (for whom the event is named) was from Warren, NH – home of Mt.Moosilauke – and I’m sure that she would have whole-heartily approved.
Sunriseon Kilimanjaro
We’ve been talking with the folks at The Prouty about kickingoff a hike/climb/mountaineering program with a bang – a climb up Mt.Kilimanjaro in December of 2012. This will be a first class trip, and we areassembling a terrific team of guides and trip leaders to ensure that everyonehas a safe and fun time. We thought that you might be interested in learning alittle more about this adventure, and perhaps joining us to kick off theinaugural expedition.
The trip is scheduled for December 12-22 of 2012, and willhave the team from East Africa Voyages, a great outfitter that I have climbedwith before:  http://www.eastafricanvoyage.com/East_African_Voyage/Kilimanjaro0.html. Theguys that run this are NOLS trained and have also guided Dartmouth Alumni tripsup Kilimanjaro in the past. They have a great reputation, and even bring alonga hyperbaric chamber in case of a real problem on the Hill.
Seke Godsonand Wes at the Summit
Joining us on the climb will be one Dartmouth undergraduate,John Thompson D’13, and one graduate student, Kelly Michaelson D’06, DMS ‘16who are both trip leaders for the Dartmouth Outing Club. JT is from Madison, WIand majoring in Earth Sciences(glaciology in particular) which means his “schoolwork” has included trekkingthrough the high Andes near the Quelccaya ice cap, skiing and climbing onDenali and Mt. Hunter, and fending off polar bears on the North Ice Cap ofGreenland! Kelly hails from Buffalo, NY and as a fifthstudent year in the Dartmouth M.D./Ph. D program is currently working on a Ph.D. at the Thayer School of Engineering aimedat developingbetter breast cancer screening methods.  
            Kelly Michaelsen                                                                                              John Thompson
These folks areextremely well qualified, WFR certified and experienced at altitude, will bejoining us to help with logistics and guiding, and should be a great additionto the trip.
The cost for the program is $7,500 per person, plus airfare.This is a terrific price relative to other charity-sponsored trips, is about2/3 tax deductible, and includes two nights of hotel accommodations prior tothe climb and one night afterward. The total team for the climb will be 12-15people and family groups are greatly encouraged. We want to make sure thateverybody is fit enough to be successful in the climb. This is not a difficultclimb – it is more of a walk up – but is really high (19,338 feet), whichalways presents a physiological challenge.
We hope to have a website up and running the end of March toassist in communication and fundraising for those who are inclined to help growthe Prouty through outside fund solicitation – something that we wholeheartedlyencourage. We have a fairly active program doing preparation hikes going, andyou can follow our progress on my blog, http://mwestonchapman.blogspot.com/?z#!/2012/02/northkinsman-4293-ft.html. We havedone 10 preparatory hikes to date, and will do at least 20 more before theactual climb. For people who would like to come with us to Kilimanjaro butaren’t sure if they are up to the physical challenge, I am happy to take youout for a weekend of hiking to figure out if a Kilimanjaro trip makes sense,and if you need to do some training to get ready, help design a trainingprogram. For people without much of a mountaineering CV, I’d like to go on ahike with you this summer to make sure that a Kilimanjaro hike is a reasonableundertaking – the whole idea is to have fun.
Mt. Meruframed by Glaciers in the Kilimanjaro Crater
Based on initial expressions of interest, this climb may fillup pretty quickly, so if you are interested, send back your completed r.s.v.p (below)right away—to rebecca.gray@dartmouth.edu—and we’ll be back in touch.
Climbing the Barranco Wall
This is a trip of a lifetime and we are delightedwith the prospect of not only the development of The Prouty to include afirst-rate mountaineering program, but we will all be making a significantcontribution to the fight against cancer by raising money for Norris CottonCancer Center.
WE HOPE YOU’RE WITH US ON OUR CLIMB UP MT.KILIMANJARO!
(Cutand paste answers to the questions below into an email and send to rebecca.gray@dartmouth.edu)
Contact info to send more information as it becomes available—especiallywhen the website goes live.
Name_______________
Street_______________Town_________State____Zip___________
Preferred email____________Preferred phone number___________
Your level of interest in The Reach for the Peaks kick-off hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro is: 
1)      Over-the-Moon excited, ready to sign-up 
2)      REALLY interested but would need to know more 
3)      Everyone’s gotta dream, and who knows? Keep you on your list
What kind of climbingexperience do you have?
Would you be interested in participating in the ongoing trainingsessions?

Do you have family members who might also be interested in signingup? How many?
Would you like us to call you? (Give us a preferred time of day tocall)
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