Pemi Loop Jan 24

Hi! I am planning to attempt the Pemi loop in the counter clockwise direction on January 24th. I was wondering if anyone had any advice, pointers, or wanted to go with us.
If anyone has any updates on conditions after this most recent snowfall let me know!
-Kristina

When you say "Pemi Loop" which peaks is it that you are trying to hit? Are you talking about all the peaks, including spur trails?

We are planning to start by heading up to Bond and finishing with the Flume. It is about 32 miles. We did a practice run this summer in the clockwise direction.

Hi Kristina -

The Twinway between Guyot and South Twin is seldom traveled in winter, as is the Garfield trail between Garfield and Lafayette. With all of the snow currently on the ground, blazes will be buried, trees will be drooping and the trail will be hard to find, but if you remember the route from your summer outing, you might be OK... it's a very ambitious undertaking to do it in a 'day' - it was epic in 3 days (both times) with 6 feet of snow on the ground... get a trainload of people to help you break trail...

Look forward to hearing the tale!

Sue

We are planning on it being very difficult. We are planning to do it in 3 days and packing enough food for 4. Right now we are not even sure if we will make it but worst case we will hike to Bond, camp, and hike out.
I am expecting things to be extremely challenging with very deep snow. Hopefully there will be some traffic so we are not breaking the whole way. I am definately planning on the hike up to Bond to be unbroken as well as the ridge between Garfield and Lafayette.
Keep the advice and conditions coming!

Bring a LOT of food & water.
Bring as much ambition & a ton of STAMINA!!!
Bring traction and flotation devices.
Have some bailout options, car spots, friends you can call, etc...


Oh, and we broke out Garfield Ridge trail between Garfield and Galehead yesterday so unless you get snow and/or high winds between now and then...

Hi
Assuming you are a ultra fit trained athlete and have done a lot of winter mountaineering and are familiar with winter bivouac and survival procedures it may be doable....in present expected conditions in a few days unless you seige it with 6 or more similarly trained people.


From the sound of your question you are neither .

The weight of your pack with equitpment for these contigencies would be in excess of 30 lbs.

Your minimum hydration requirements are
26 oz times the number of hours you are exerting yourself.

(not the time you are relaxing on the flats and downhill)

Your query as to conditions has been well answered .

Climbng Stallion/BMT

Apologies - didn't realize you were planning a 3-day adventure. Going counter clockwise, there is a dogleg to the left in the Twinway about a mile past the end of the Bondcliff trail that stumped us twice. Stay up on the ridge - relatively flat walking - until you get to the hump before South Twin - then you dip down a little and skirt that to the right... pretty sprucy to go over it. At Garfield Pond, the trail goes to the right over the hump there - we spent a silly amount of time trying to go around, but we hadn't done our homework - didn't know the trail. The trail was hard to find after that due to so much snow... trail should be broken out after summitting Lafayette...

Climbing Stallion, I "know" dangergirl from another forum. She's not inexperienced and she knows what she's getting into....

Kristina, wish I could join you, but it will take me a few years (at least) to get into the kind of shape you're in!

Ahhhh ok... thanks! I was convinced that she was soloing and did my best to discourage that. (I saw that she just joined VFTT today etc,)

I actually thought it might have been a hoax but I just read the other posts thanks.


Good luck Danger Girl
You will have a great tale to tell. I look forward to it!

CS/BMT

No, dangergirl's the real deal -- she's done some serious stuff.

Pssst......dangergirl.....post a link to your hiking/climbing adventure pictures....they're wicked cool

Im rooting for her now !
Thank you!

Thanks for the info and the concern! For those of you who don't know me here is a brief description of my experience. I have other experiences that I have not listed. This info should help people in offering me advice.

Climbing Resume
Experience August 2005 Mount Katahdin, Maine
 Ascended the Abel Trail, went across Knifes Edge and descending the Dudley trail. First hike.
January 2005 Mount Washington, NH
• Winter Ascent up Tuckermans Ravine left gully. First winter hike.
January 2006 Mount Washington, NH
 Camped outside of Harvard Cabin. Negative 21 degrees with 100mph winds. My first camping trip ever.
 Attempted to summit Mount Washington the next day with limited visibility and high winds. Frostnip turned us back.
September 2006 Gannett Peak, WY
 Attempted to climb Gannett Peak via Titcomb Basin. Poor physical conditioning, lack of experience, and a broken snowbridge at the crux of the ascent turned us back.
 First multiday camping trip, first time on a glacier
January 2007 Mount Washington, NH
 Winter Ascent via Tuckerman Ravines Right Gully
March 2007 Modified Presidential Traverse
• Successful Modified Presidential Traverse. Camped at Sphinx Col. Learned what undercast conditions were. We got terribly sunburnt
August 2007 Gannett Peak, WY
• Successful summit of Gannett Peak via Titcomb Basin. Completed in 3 days. Good physical conditioning, practice, and planning made for a successful trip.
August 2007 The Grand Teton, WY
• Attempted to summit the Grand Teton. Camped on the Lower Saddle and had 103mph winds with sleet, snow, and rain. Our tent surprisingly survived the night with minimal damage. Retreated the next morning due to high winds.
August 2007 Devils Tower, WY
 Attempted Devils Tower Durrance Route. At the top of the first pitch a thunderstorm rolled in so we rappelled down.
March 2008 Presidential Traverse
• Successful winter traverse in the Presidential Range. Camped in Sphinx Col. Very low visibility had to navigate via GPS and map. We were very strong with both our fitness and navigational skills.
May 2008 6 Day Mountaineering Course in Alaska
 Camped on the Kahiltna Glacier and took a mountaineering course through Alpine Ascents. We learned crevasse safety and rescue, setting up camp, glacier travel, and summitted Control Tower.
July 2008 The Pemi loop (New Hampshire)
 Completed a 32 mile hike of the Pemi loop where we camped for two nights and summitted 11 peaks. Very strenuous. Our goal was to do a dry run before attempting this loop in the winter.
July 2008 The Presidential Traverse
 Successful single day traverse of the Presidential Range. We summitted all peaks including Madison, Jackson, and Webster (and all in between)
August 2008 Granite Peak, MT
• Successful summit of Granite Peak via the East Rosebud Trail in 3 days. We camped on Froze to Death Plateau at 12,000ft. We ascended to quickly and had altitude sickness.
August 2008 The Grand Teton, WY
• Successful summit of The Grand Teton. Camped at the Meadows.
Other climbing experiences 2005-current Rock and Ice Climbing
 Regular rock and ice climbing. I am comfortable as a second on most grades and am leading up to an easy 5.7 on rock and an easy WI3 on ice. I am still very slow leading and am much quicker as a second.

Other activities 1997-current
 Mountain biking (freeride, cross country, downhill-I used to race downhill at the professional level), snowboarding, road biking, dirtbiking, white water kayaking, trail running (completed two 50 mile ultramarathons), hiking, camping, ice and rock climbing, mountaineering, and any other activity that may be fun.
Goals for 2009  Winter traverse of the Presidential Range, hitting all summits
 The Pemi Loop in the Winter
 Evening ascent of Mt Washington in the winter
 Learning to backcountry snowboard
 Taking an Avalanche course
 Taking another Alaska mountaineering course
 Attempting to Summit Mt Rainier and Mt Hood unguided
 Attempting to climb the Whitney Gilman Ridge
 Taking classes on meteorology to increase my knowledge of weather
 Running a trail marathon and possibly an ultra
 Racing at least 2 dirtbike enduro races
 Racing at least 1 cross country mountain bike race
 Leading a WI3+ ice climb comfortably
 Leading a grade 5.7 rock climb comfortably

I am also currently training to climb Denali in 2010. I will be doing it guided.

So, now that I have introduced myself, bring on the suggestions! - Kristina
p.s. you can see photos for all of my trips with trip reports at the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/

More power to you, girl! Have a great time on the Pemi Loop. I have only done it in summer but a winter attempt is on my to-do list, along with the Presi Traverse. Someone can be as humanly fit as possible but if you are charging in the wrong direction it is a waste of time. Being able to navigate and stay on trail will be a huge factor in success.
Whatever happens, it is fun being in the Whites in winter. Looking forward to hearing about it.

It has also been done in one winter day... January 2, 2005, if I remember correctly. Frodo & Sir Edmund, are you out there??

Wow! One winter day! That is impressive! Navigation is definately the toughest part. We have been in snow so deep the trees and trail markers were buried! We plan to give it a safe try, but have already accepted that we may have to bail at some point. The conditions are our biggest concern, especially on any unbroken portion of the trail. We had to turn around on our first attempt of the presi traverse a couple of years ago because we were breaking trail and sinking up past our knees with snowshoes on! We were moving at a 1/4 mile an hour pace so we set up camp and hiked out the next day. It was also -21 degrees that night. That trip humbled us and taught us a lesson about mountaineering. We also learned that night that not summitting or finishing is not failure. A successful trip is coming back safely and alive.

welcome

Well I gotta say welcome, your TRs' are sure to be exciting to read..

I think you picked a good date. Snow is not nearly as deep as it would be later in the season; most branches may still be far enough above the trail to duck under, and blazes probably won't be buried yet

dangergirl said:

So, now that I have introduced myself, bring on the suggestions! - Kristina

Click to expand...

Lol, my suggestion is to let me know when you guys make it to WA/OR A friend of mine is a sick freerider in Bellingham and knows some good trails that he plans on killing me on.

Good luck on the Pemi! It has been windy, I see big drifts in your future!

I especially like the picture of the mountain bike when you were ice climbing.
You are good with your dual sport adventures.