Oncoman
Active member
Very nice sunny day though somewhat cold. Off at 04h15 and back at 16h00. Climbed Sugarloaf from ski trails. Réjean carried his skis as he wanted to downhill on the return. Had a bit of difficulty finding trail entry point by headlamp but by 05h50 we were on our way.
About 6-8’’ of snow to plow. Probably very few if any went this way this winter. Following trail to Spaulding jct was fairly easy but after tagging Spaulding we descended towards col between Sp & Abra, passed the lean-to, crossed a snowmobile trail ( a bypass highway between Caribou Valley Rd and Kingfield, as we later learned by speaking to a snowmobile adept on our way back), then lost the trail completely in a very open section of woods.
So we bwk up false pk on ridge, found a logging road heading south which we followed for a while and then bwk somemore and eureka falled back on white blazed trail barely 300-400’ from jct with side blue blazed trail to Abraham. Climb up Abraham went well with little snow on bare rocks. Luckily little wind, as it was already cold enough; so we didn’t linger on open summit. Superb views. On return climbing back up Spaulding seemed to take an eternity as I was starting to loose stamina having broken the trail more than my share it seemed; but we eventually made it back to Sugarloaf where Réjean & I parted. Got a few incredulous stares from skiers impressed by my iced up beard. The rapid downhill by snowshoes was very hard on my knees and I really felt it the following day but I have a full week to recover before my next winter hike.
For an interesting unconventional winter hike one could do Redington via Caribou Valley Rd (following snowmobile trail all the way to summit as mentioned in marchowes recent TR) and then following snowmobile trail up col between Spaulding/Abraham to tag either one or both of these pks. That area seems to be a real snowmobiler’s paradise…
About 6-8’’ of snow to plow. Probably very few if any went this way this winter. Following trail to Spaulding jct was fairly easy but after tagging Spaulding we descended towards col between Sp & Abra, passed the lean-to, crossed a snowmobile trail ( a bypass highway between Caribou Valley Rd and Kingfield, as we later learned by speaking to a snowmobile adept on our way back), then lost the trail completely in a very open section of woods.
So we bwk up false pk on ridge, found a logging road heading south which we followed for a while and then bwk somemore and eureka falled back on white blazed trail barely 300-400’ from jct with side blue blazed trail to Abraham. Climb up Abraham went well with little snow on bare rocks. Luckily little wind, as it was already cold enough; so we didn’t linger on open summit. Superb views. On return climbing back up Spaulding seemed to take an eternity as I was starting to loose stamina having broken the trail more than my share it seemed; but we eventually made it back to Sugarloaf where Réjean & I parted. Got a few incredulous stares from skiers impressed by my iced up beard. The rapid downhill by snowshoes was very hard on my knees and I really felt it the following day but I have a full week to recover before my next winter hike.
For an interesting unconventional winter hike one could do Redington via Caribou Valley Rd (following snowmobile trail all the way to summit as mentioned in marchowes recent TR) and then following snowmobile trail up col between Spaulding/Abraham to tag either one or both of these pks. That area seems to be a real snowmobiler’s paradise…
