Mt. Frissell/Bear Mtn (CT) 1/14/06

Bear Mtn (CT) 1/14/06

Folks:

Planning on hiking up to Bear Mtn. in CT on Saturday, Jan. 14. Gathering at the Undermountain Trail parking lot around noon. The parking lot is off Route 41 in the lovely, bucolic tony town of Salisbury in CT's northwestern hills.

If you're interested, PM me to coordinate.

It's been years since I hiked this trail but I remember it as beautiful with some views on the approach to the summit. A friend of mine who thru-hiked the AT calls it his favorite section along the AT.

Alpinista, I'd be there (or on Greylock) but for my Catskill plans.
Keep in mind the Undermountain Trail goes up to the AT and then heads north to cross Bear, or below the AT you can take Paradise Lane around to the AT on the north side of Bear. Frissell is not on the AT, but west on a trail from the north side of Bear.

This is a great map of the area, linked gratiously to me by "Quietman".

Click on the bottom right to expand the map and find the trails around Bear.

I like to continue north through Sages towards Race and Everett, personally, but you'll have fun regardless.

PS: you'll need crampons or a belay on that 1/4 mile on the north side.

Bear Mt - Why such a late start?

Why such a late start? I have a topo map of the region. I've hiked up Race Brook Falls and Mt Everett twice and also explored western edge of the Riga Plateau. I've always wanted to hike Sages Ravine and some of the neighboring peaks. I live in Waltham MA and don't think it's worth driving all the way out there for just 1/2 day hike. IMO the area deserves a full day to explore to merit the drive unless you're already out there for other business. Could you consider an earlier start?

The late start is because I don't want to have to wake up at the crack of dawn on a day off to drive 2-plus hours to the trailhead. I wake up every weekday at 5 a.m., and on weekends, I try as much as possible to get a bit more shut-eye. Plus I'm just hoping for just a nice, leisurely day in the woods rather than an all-day slog.

You can put me in the "maybe" category for this one. If the weather is really good I will bring my son (if nobody minds), and if it snows, I will bring myself, as I am allowed to hike guilt free anytime it snows.

Anybody interested in a short whack to the AMC hut to "cut a corner" on the way to frissel?

-percious

percious said:

You can put me in the "maybe" category for this one. If the weather is really good I will bring my son (if nobody minds), and if it snows, I will bring myself, as I am allowed to hike guilt free anytime it snows.

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percious: I, for one, don't mind at all if your son comes along.

I can't make it but have a question on the plans.

Is your plan just Bear or are you ooking at Highpointing CT by hitting the marker on the side of Frissell?

Bear with a noon start should be fine for most people, if peopel do not have traction devices, I'd forgo the Paradise Lane option as the North Side of bear is pretty steep.

If you are looking at Bear & the CT Highpoint from Undermountain, (if you go up Undermountain the whole way & hit the Bear Summit first) you have to back track .9 back to where the AT turns off the old road to ascend Bear & get to the Mt. Washington Road (in CT may be called something else, same road.)

You walk north on that a little bit & then go up Round Mt. (even steeper than the North Face of Bear) which has a neat little summit also, descend to the Round Frissell Col & then climb Frissell where you should find the Highpointer's log. The CT high point though is a few 10th's of a mile down the other side though towards the Tri-State marker (CT/MA/NY)

Then backtrack these steps skipping the Bear Summit to get back to your car.

Hitting Bear, Round Frissell & the State Highpoint & getting back to Route 41 would take most people more time than daylight when you start at noon.

Bear RT in 5 hours pretty easy
Bear & Round in 5 hours, doable but you need to make decent time.
Add State Highpoint & this becomes a challenge.

If looking to do State Highpoint easier to hget there from NY side. Mt. Brace a better place to do twice than Bear & is considered my most to be the equal or better than Mt. Race. (generally believe these two peaks or places on them & Jug End may offer best view on the entire Riga Plateau. (I will admit not doing Alandar yet though)

Hey Mike P.

My plan is to hit only Bear Mtn. I went to change the headline and it doesn't seem to take so the Frissell part of it remains in the headline.

sounds reasonable & you may have the top to yourself. You'll pass people descending while you are on way up but no biggie there.

Mike P. said:

Hitting Bear, Round Frissell & the State Highpoint & getting back to Route 41 would take most people more time than daylight when you start at noon.

If looking to do State Highpoint easier to hget there from NY side. Mt. Brace a better place to do twice than Bear & is considered my most to be the equal or better than Mt. Race. (generally believe these two peaks or places on them & Jug End may offer best view on the entire Riga Plateau. (I will admit not doing Alandar yet though)

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I don't completely agree here, for what it is worth.

There is a trail that goes in a straight line very close the the AMC hut which brings you directly back to the AT, right near the UMT junction. I did this with a friend of mine early last spring (there was still considerable snow) and threw in a bushwhack to the AMC hut, and I think RT was about 6 hours. (we are both strong hikers)

I do agree that a 12pm start time is late for this endeavor, if you wanted to get back to the car before dark. I personally wouldn't mind hiking with headlamp on the "cut across" trail, as it is well defined. There was only 1 tricky water crossing, to my recollection, but nothing to get worried about.

I think Race Mt. has the best views on the Mass. side of things, and Sage's revine is very nice. I think Round mountain has the best views of the lot.

-percious

I usually do a Bear trip every summer or at least once a year starting after 6:00 PM (After 4:00 in the early Fall) Last year we started around 7:00 it's pretty easy with lights.

There is still a lot less elevation gain though to get to the marker though from the NY side unless you park on road that in MA is the Mt. Washington Road. (I've never done that , it seems like cheating)

From NY - Climb South Brace elevation 2304, a couple of spots require hands.
The col between South & Brace is too small so South Brace is not a seperate peak. Col between Brace & Frissell is not that deep either & the highpoint is on that side. Except for signing the book, you don't even have to summit Frissell.

From Route 41 ascend Undermountain to Riga Junction. From there to start of Round Trail is pretty flat on old charcoal (sic) road. Then after climb Round which is pretty steep. Then descend into Round & Frissell Col & summit Frissell then descend to state highpoint.

Hardest part of the NY approach is getting there. The terrain s all nice, not really that hard so it's probably better to hike longer than drive longer.

Mike P. said:

There is still a lot less elevation gain though to get to the marker though from the NY side unless you park on road that in MA is the Mt. Washington Road. (I've never done that , it seems like cheating)

...

Hardest part of the NY approach is getting there. The terrain s all nice, not really that hard so it's probably better to hike longer than drive longer.

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I absolutely agree.

-percious

Our favorite kind of weather

Bluebird days, oui. Soft gentle all-day snow, hooray. But, this for Saturday in NW CT:
Day
Rain / Thunder 44°F Precip 90%
Wind: WSW 10 mph
Max. Humidity: 84%
Sunrise: 7:20 AM ET
Night
Snow Overnight Low 16°F Precip 80%
Wind: WNW 15 mph
Sunset: 4:46 PM ET

Keep me posted if there's any change in plans.

Well, that's shaping up to be a pretty sucky day, eh?

I'm willing to still tramp around the woods even if we don't go above treeline and reach the top of Bear Mtn. But let's all confab that morning to take everyone's "temperature," so to speak.

Liser- Knee is better but it is still very uncomfortable to hike in snow shoes or to descend. I was hoping it would be good by this weekend but there's little hope of that!!

So I'll write this one off for another time. Enjoy the hike!

Hang in there, Tony. Get your knee well-rested so we can knock off the rest of the NE67 this year!

Update

With the weather looking mighty crappy for the day, we will likely switch gears and just do a nice leisurely hike to Sages Ravine. Will keep you posted as we watch the weather and figure out a way to get out in the woods without jeopardizing our health!

Does anyone have any idea about the conditions in Sages Ravine? I'm wondering whether I should bother packing snowshoes with all of the warm weather, will definitely bring crampons.....

perhaps I should post this question to Q+A.......

It was a dark and stormy night

I'm thinking about the noon start and the rainy weather turning to snow. I went up the Alander trail from the park HQ last year at this time and in this weather and it got very dark shortly after 2 p.m. The ground was a mix of ice, water and mud, very slippery. In the interest of safety, I turned around because of the dark. I didn't want to fall in the dark.
It was much lighter by the time I got back to the HQ, probably not even a 1,000' foot drop. And, it was much lighter than that by the time I got to Great Barrington. I turned around two hours before sunset because of how dark it was.
Just a thought.
The weather report is slightly better. 49F in midafternoon. Night low of 22F. 8 mph wind. 100 percent chance of rain, but intermittent.

funkyfreddy said:

Does anyone have any idea about the conditions in Sages Ravine? I'm wondering whether I should bother packing snowshoes with all of the warm weather, will definitely bring crampons.....

perhaps I should post this question to Q+A.......

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Fred: I'm bringing snowshoes protectively ... but then, I'll be driving, not slogging stuff on the bus.