Abol trail in Baxter

Greetings all,

Am off to Baxter with a group, with a reservation at the Abol shelter. Read a very nice trip report from earlier this month, but with last weekend's snows, I'm wondering if anyone can share some wisdom as to whether the road in will be packed down at all by late Saturday, and whether the Abol trail might be broken out.

Or will we be breaking trail from the parking lot basically all the way up?

Thanks!



Brian

You lucky dog!!

I hope the weather cooperates for you - as you probably suspect this is an amazing climb in a stunning setting. But to your questions, generally the trail from Abol Bridge and the Perimeter Road is well-packed/snowmachined. The condition of the Abol Trail itself depends on who's been there before you and Mother Nature. I've always needed crampons on the upper part of the slide where the surface can be mostly rock, all ice or deep snow, depending on that Winter's conditions. On and above the Tableland I've been fine with crampons; the wind and exposure usually providing firm footing - but there can be slick icy sections, too.

You lucky dog!

Thank you for that! I'm am very stoked, the weather should cooperate. A little snow perhaps, but not much (we're bringing wands for Tableland just in case).

It's nice to hear though, that at least the road should be packed down.

I know they got hammered with new snow last weekend, and am hoping someone might go up the trail on Saturday to pack it down for us!


Brian

When I did it in march 2007 - well packed out to campground via snowmobiles. Pretty sure we barebooted to there if i recall - used shoes to base of slide and then spikes rest of way - great climb up and really fun day. but - that could be different now of course.
should be there in 2 weeks myself

great idea about the wands - I could see the drop in to the slide being a potential issue if a whiteout occured on the way back. luckily when I did it - it was bluebird.

The conditions should be great for skiing on the road which as you've heard is usually packed by snowmobiles. The last time I did this trip, I skied in to Abol Campground w/ my sled and gear, dropped my skies, changed boots, wore snowshoes until the slide, then crampons until I got back down the slide on the way back. The ski out was a real pleasure at the end of a long day. It should be an awesome trip, have a blast!!!

Don't be tempted to leave the snowshoes behind. The terrain is highly varied from Abol Bridge to summit and back. A few weeks ago we had to snowshoe about a third of the way up the slide. that was unusual in my experience. usually snowshoes are only needed for the stretch between the campground and the base of the slide.

you need snowshoes, crampons and skis, if you are so inclined, for the way in. Don't put yourself in a situation where you have to forge on in deep powder several miles from the car b/c you wanted to leave the shoes behind.

Trust me that it's not a fun trip in bad weather.

Good luck!

oh and for snow, we've had a serious warming yesterday and today and some rain expected tonight. I expect you'll have icy topcoat conditions followed by some snow on Sunday.

spencer

My big fear was having to break trail through thigh high powder. I'm hoping that with the warmer temps today and some rain, the snow will pack down a little, and if we have to break trail, with luck we won't sink much.

It would be nice to be able to cross the Tableland in crampons and just need the snowshoes to get to the slide, which is what I'm hearing folks say.

We may get ourselves a bit of snow, and alas, I suspect we won't get much in the way of views, but the winds aren't looking to strong and the temps should be manageable.

Thank you for all the advice and comments, and if anyone else has any, I will be happy to them.


Brian

The Tableland is always just a crampon affair. There are occasional pockets of drifts, especially going up the final half mile up the summit cone but otherwise it's very good hardpack.

It's raining pretty hard here now in the Bangor area.

Looks clear!

Just looked at the KatahdinCam and it looks clear

Looking forward to your report

Where is the K-Cam?? url.

Try this -

http://www.katahdincam.com/