Owl's Head/Carrigain/Waumbek: Jan 5/6 2004

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Frodo

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Sep 4, 2003
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Location
West Newton, MA
6:30am
We drop Thom off at the Old Bridle Path parking lot, after spotting his car at the Whitehouse Trailhead (he is making up the 4 peaks that he missed on one of his 2 days off).

6:51am
We leave the Wilderness Trail parking lot. There is no one around...

8:05am
After dozens of tricky water crossings (many icy ones in the dark) over the past 10 days, Stinkyfeet manages to fall in to a 2 foot wide stream, landing directly on her backside. (She was lucky she was wearing Patagonia R1 tights, which were dry within 2 hours!)

8:20am
Andrew catches up to us near the end of the Black Pond bushwhack. He jumps out from behind a tree and lets out this tremendous blood-curdling scream and scares the crap out of us.

9:20am
We reach the bottom of the slide, and head up. The slide is icy, but there is enough exposed bare rock that we are able to safely climb it without using our crampons.

11:19am
We reach the summit of Owl's Head, take a few pictures then head back down. Stinkyfeet vows that she will not be climbing this peak again any time soon...

12:12pm
We are back at the bottom of the slide. The river crossings after the Black Pond BW are high, but not much of a problem.

3:06pm
We arrive back to the Wilderness Trail parking lot. Andrew wishes us luck and we part ways.

3:20pm
We stop at Elvio's Pizza and stock up on pizza and soup for our ride over to Sawyer River Road. Frodo's 4Runner is now looking and smelling rough.

3:35pm
Stinkyfeet writes a note on a pizza stained paper plate and leaves it on Thom's windshield at the Whitehouse Trailhead, which he finds 5 minutes later.

4:41pm
We head down Sawyer River Road as the sun is setting, leaving our skis behind (we thought the Sawyer River Road would be in the same shape as the Wilderness Trail, which was just awful for skiing, but we were wrong)

8:39pm
We summit Mt Carrigain. It is a cold, windy, and snowy night. The snowflakes glisten in our headlamps as they fall around us. We both comment on how dismal it would be to be climbing these peaks at night, in winter, alone...

12:02am (1-6-04)
After an incredibly long slog down, we finally make it back to the truck. We discover that Thom had arrived earlier and is parked next to us sleeping. He wants to join us for our last peak, after spending the day climbing the Franconia Ridge.

1:00am
We pull over at a gas station in Twin Mountain and take a 15 minute power nap. Frodo can barely drive...

1:43am
We set off up the Starr King Trail. Thom and Cruddy Toes both join us for the finale.

3:40am
We lose the windblown trail between Starr King and Waumbek. After about 15 minutes of the 4 of us meandering around and getting a compass bearing, Cruddy Toes finds the trail! You da man!

4:10am
We reach the summit of Waumbek! We hug each other, take a few pictures, drink hot chocolate, then head down...

5:37am
We are back to our car!
We have just completed the NH Winter 48 in 10 days, 22 hours, and 37 minutes, following the AMC 4000 footer winter rules (including stopping the clock back at the trailhead of the last peak)

Time to sleep!!!!!!!!

48 down, 0 to go...

Thom now has 35 down, and 13 to go, which he hopes to finish in the next week or so...
 
You guys are just amazing!!!! Some of your times I would be hard pressed to duplicate in summer, let alone in the winter. I still can't believe you did Owl's Head, Carragain, and Waumbek all in one day!!!

Frodo - I was reflecting back on my first winter 4K - North Tripyramid via Pine Bend Brook Trail. 6 hours from trailhead to summit; 2.5 hours back to the car. Let's see, at that pace I'd just be at number 24 in 12 days - and that's if I could still stand. How are your feet, anyway???

Congratulations! I think this record will stand for a very long time.
 
I am at a loss for words...WOW!!!

and congratulations!!
 
Frodo & Stinkyfeet,

Stupendous accomplishment. I'm sure you won't read this until after the long sleep but my hat's off to you. Well done indeed.

JohnL
 
Wow, Wow, Wow!!!!

Frodo and Stinkyfeet!

What an incredible achievement!! No one will beat your record for eons! You certainly are quite a pair!! What's next, after your big sleep!?

Congrats and hats off to you both! You both rock!!!
 
A truly impressive feat, and thank you for allowing us to vicariously share your journeys through your trip reports.
 
Amazing !!!

Truely amazing!
I am going to miss the daily reports,they made more great reading.This effort is beyond catagory...an injury could have occured during any of the hikes,plus you made it before the Arctic blast comes in.....
Congrats, MJ
 
Two words for the both of you ...

Amazing Machines

........................................................

Alright a few more. And to keep posting your travels on a daily basis after the days you had .... Speakless :eek: :eek:
 
Congratulations

Out of sight. What a great adventure. And two wonderful people.

You have risen to the height of mountains and lived the dream. Congratulations.


Your Friend,

Cave Dog
 
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