Winter Record Attempt 12/22 - 12/31

Wow, great progress! I'm glad you are having such a time of it!

Report from Mats central

Mats is feeling great - today fell a little short with snow falling most of the day - Mousilauke followed by the Kinsmans

Here's the plan to finish them off in time for New Years
Fri: Cannon, Tom, Field, Willey, Carrigan
Saturday: Isolation, Waumbec and Cabot
Sunday: Owls head, Bondcliff, Bond, West Bond, Zealand, Hale
Monday: Wildcats, Carters, Moriah

Go Mats!

Report of Trail Breaking...

Marchowes, Clumsy Bear, and I headed up Carrigain on Wednesday. The snow was pretty firm so I barebooted until a soft spot after the second crossing. Then I put on snowshoes. It was so much easier than busting out the Carters and Galehead had been. Beautiful summit views and great weather! Very fast descent.

Yesterday my friends Mary and Becky joined me in breaking out Waumbek (#70 of the year). You can't drive to the summer TH, gotta park at the pool. It snowed most of the day but we had little trouble packing down the trail and getting acosted by the grey jays. They landed on my and Becky's heads!!

No trail breaking today or tomorrow. Gotta go to a wedding and get the house ready for New Year's! Best of luck, sorry I didn't see you but I'm glad you're doing well!

Sorry I missed you guys by little wednesday in Crawford Notch. Mats, did you get my note ?

I wasn't sure what was Mat's plan for today, but I was in Cannon area and there was about 5in of fresh snow on the trails, wish I could have helped with the breaking.

Can't wait to have news !

Mats is still going strong

Today is going well
at 2:30 PM Mats started his last mountain for the day- Carrigan

Mats on Field

Our madcap bunch* happened to meet Mats at the Highland Hilton just as he was hitting the Willey Range. We hiked up to Tom, over Field and out to Willey with him, then he went ahead of us down the Avalon for his date with Ms. Carrigain. Mats seemed to be in great spirits and was looking strong.


* Cath, Drewski, MEB, Melanie

Friday night after dinner

Carrigan in 6:15 into the evening
Still going strong

Tomorrow the weather may present a challenge but Mats is feeling no pain and determined- schedule remains the same as posted above
6AM start for Isolation
3 days, 15 summits, 180 pushups to go!!!

Go Mats go!

Cabot

We broke trail through 4-5 inches of new, wet, heavy snow on the Bunnell Notch Trail from York Pond to the junction of Kilkenney Ridge Trail today. A late start and impending darkness kept us from going to the summit. I'm guessing if Mats does Waumbek, he'll go straight from there to Cabot and not go along the Bunnell Notch Trail, but we were thinking of him anyway!

Jude lost Emma's water bottle along the trail. We are going back in the AM to look for it, (yes, we are staying near there) but if anyone picks it up please PM me, thanks!

KDT

From what I'm told Mats did do Cabot and I believe he did Waumbek too, but earlier in the day he was turned back on Isolation. That's all I know so far.

I think he is still out on waumbek right now, but will be done sometime tonight. He finished cabot around 5.


6"+ wet nasty snow prevented the isolation trip from being a success.

Snow

The snow was nasty. It clumped up on our snowshoes and weighed them down. Had to stop and clear them frequently.

Cheers to Mats for making it to the summit of anything today!


KDT

marchowes said:

I think he is still out on waumbek right now, but will be done sometime tonight. He finished cabot around 5.


6"+ wet nasty snow prevented the isolation trip from being a success.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Thanks Marc.

Just received an early morning phone call from Mats. He's on his way to the Wildcats. His plan is to work his way up the Wildcats then Carter Dome, across the Carters to Moriah. He doesn't plan on getting much sleep tonight and will get an early start (possibly midnight) on Owl's Head and the Bonds/Zealand/Hale and hope for the best. If all goes well he will return to Isolation for another try. He reports that the trail to Isolation is now broken out past the fifth stream crossing. If things go right today and tomrrow he will head back to Isolation for another try.

Given the impending snowstorm I wish him all the best of luck for the next two days!

Go Mats!!!

We ran into Mats today as we were ascending Wildcat Ridge trail up "A". He was heading down from "A" about .3 mile or so from the 19 mile brook trail-wildcat ridge junction. This was about 11:30 or so this morning (Sunday). He told us he had to turn back on Isolation due to unbroken trail. He was still looking strong though. Good luck Mats and way to go!!

Been following this with some interest, wow, what a great team effort! The storm late tonight and tomorrow, though substantial, should not be an enormous dump, but the one on Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday could be another story. Hopefully the deed will be done before 2008!

Weatherman

J&J said:

We ran into Mats today as we were ascending Wildcat Ridge trail up "A". He was heading down from "A" about .3 mile or so from the 19 mile brook trail-wildcat ridge junction. This was about 11:30 or so this morning (Sunday). He told us he had to turn back on Isolation due to unbroken trail. He was still looking strong though. Good luck Mats and way to go!!

Click to expand...

We too ran into Mats (gee you two, seems like we keep bumming around the same areas at the same time ) as we were about to head up to Carter Dome. Mats was taking a snack break and our group passed him. I swore he looked familiar, and when he passed us again (as he was bound to do ) I asked "You look familiar, are you on VFTT". The accent gave him away even before he answered . As you guys said, he looked real good. Stopped to chat for a few. He said he might attempt Owls Head tonight after his long traverse. Wished him luck and watched him disappear up the trail for good.

I must say this is one top notch guy! He not only has the ability and the potential, but he also has a great attitude. If he does break the record than he deserves every bit of it (as much as the current holders do.) What more can I say but.....GO MATS GO!!!!!!

Brian

As of early this evening, the Wilderness and Bondcliff Trails are well broken out to the summit of Bondcliff. Trail MAY be broken beyond Bondcliff, depending on what the group of three young men whom we met decided to do. Maybe yes, maybe no.

But it's snowing in Portland right now, so . . . .

Any word on Mats today?