Winter is over, what did y'all do

I've read alot of reports lately by those who have finished winter lists, single season lists, single season multiple states lists, etc. Very entertaining for certain, my hat is off to all of you. I'm not yet to a point of doing a single season attempt but I did put a little more effort into my winter trips this year and only got 19 NH 4ks during the season. Never mind the physical demands, I'm interested in knowing how those that do any more than 30or complete single season lists acually do the logistics, planning, etc. And if you work, how do you sandwich this around work (and where do I apply )

Single-Season Winter 48

Hikes: 26 (24 hiking days)
Miles: 273.1
Elevation: 96,930 feet
Hours: 168:10:00
Elapsed time: 64 days
Average speed: 1.6+ mph, inclusive of stops, car-to-car (faster than my first winter round by nearly 10%)

I had a spreadsheet, with the days of winter and I made two goal lines - peaks (0-48) and hiking days (0-24), and I tried to stay "above the curve" on both, which I did. Having this graphic definitely kept me motivated. I had A, B, and C columns for the quality of day, with the various hikes I had planned in each column. A-days were "presi days", for example. I tried not to care too much about views, or if I did, I used B or C days for peaks I'd already had several A-days for (Carrigain was a C-day, and Isolation was a B-day, for example.) I also had tagged certain hikes as being better (or requiring) a car spot, or ones I was comfortable doing alone. I also considered that some are more popular (Lincoln/Lafayette) and/or closer and figured they would be broken out or require overall less time, if we ever did get a good dumping. Thus, I got Owl's Head on a day where snowshoes weren't strictly needed (nice with the televators though.) I doubled up Hale with Cannon, and Tecumseh with Tom-Field-Willey.

I was sans job for 3 of the 9 weeks (got to 25/48), and the rest of the time I imposed on my family for weekends. I also used 3 of my personal days already, meaning I better not get sick I'd saved a few short trips (Osceolas) for late starts after my son's basketball games.

A back-of-a-napkin calculation says I drove ~5000 miles (I drove 20 of 24 days, averaging 250 miles RT). At 30 mpg, that is 175 gallons of gasoline. At $3.69/gal, it cost me ~$700 (throwing in an extra oil change and rounding up.) My wife complained about the last two credit card bills

Back-to-back days required washing and/or drying everything and then getting up a bit earlier than usual to re-pack the stuff left to dry overnight.

Here is how it worked out on www.48in1winter.com

Tim
p.s. then I really pushed my luck by going with Kevin on his W48 finish...
p.p.s. it took about 2 weeks to stop waking up at 4am on my own

Winter

I hiked the first day of winter and the last day of winter and hiked in between those dates as well.

Hey, *I* start this thread every year/season/wheneverIfeellikeit!

Ok, just kidding!

Mostly, we finished the W48.

There were a few hikes in the Catskills and the ADKs for good measure.

i hiked up and skied down..about 30 days total plus about 20 days of xc country outings. 4 winter sea kayaking trips.

I managed to get in only 10 summits this winter

Some of you may recall that I tore the ACL in my left knee back in Jan of 2010 and that stopped all hiking for winter 2009/2010. Now just over two years later I tear the meniscus in my right knee and my hiking plans get foiled again. If I hadn't messed up this knee I would have likely completed 20-25 summits.

I didn't get into the mountains as much as I had hoped (do we ever?), but I had some great days.


Rumford White Cap on my birthday with my wife Jess


Awesome mid-February run/hike up Lion Head to Washington summit in 1:07:34, 1:56:12 round trip, photo by Mike Pelchat, NH State Parks


Run up Pierce and Eisenhower with my friend Jim on a WINDY day


Summer like day on Chocorua w/ Jim 3/18

Got new BC skis for Christmas. Looked at them for 3 weeks. Put them in the garage. Used them once. Used my old rock skis once.

Hiked. Climbed 15 Catskill high peaks, 3 Adirondack high peaks, other local hikes. Put snowshoes on 3 times. Got sunburned.

Hiked 18 NH winter 4ks. Finished my winter 48 in early February (thanks again, Earl, Sue and team). I then had the pleasure to join Jason Berard and LarryD for their winter 48 finishes over the past two weekends.

Marty

Wow, I feel like a slacker. I bagged two peaks, plus two that I hadn't been to in winter. Mostly sat at my computer for the entire winter, but... let's see if I can put together a little list....

Started out nicely with huge snow in late October (I know it doesn't count as winter, really, but I'm scrounging here), but then I went the next two months with only one or two hikes.

My girlfriend and I managed four dayhikes in the Whites with better weather than I ever get up there. Kinsman, Carrigain, Norcross Pond, and Liberty/Flume (for my 45-46/48).

And I finally got a chance to try out some winter backpacking on the Long Trail at Glastenbury Mountain, along with testing out the new EMS Mountain Light 0 sleeping bag down to -18 degrees. Good times.

Phew. Listing it like that makes me feel a lot better about all the time I spent in front of the computer instead of out in the snow.

bikehikeskifish said:

A back-of-a-napkin calculation says I drove ~5000 miles (I drove 20 of 24 days, averaging 250 miles RT). At 30 mpg, that is 175 gallons of gasoline. At $3.69/gal, it cost me ~$700 (throwing in an extra oil change and rounding up.) My wife complained about the last two credit card bills

Click to expand...

Not a statistic I've ever been interested in computing

I invested in my first pair of snowshoes in November and then I carried them around all winter and never used them

Bagged four NH 4kers, but more importantly I had my first above-treeline winter experience in the Presidentials! One of my best hikes so far.

Other than that I enjoyed "spring" south of New England.

I got out for 12 days of hiking, and finished the remaining 18 on my winter 48 list. Both P.B.'s for me. I also got a fair amount of work done on my kayak.

ow2010 said:

Not a statistic I've ever been interested in computing

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Me neither! We averaged 700 miles per trip, and we did several of them! I'm glad we now own a Prius!

Yeah, all that driving was not my favorite part. But, it was part of the logistics which Keith requested and shouldn't be discounted if one is considering the SSW48.

Tim

Well it was a pretty good winter for me. After my great 2011, I didn't really have any set goals for this winter, but it resulted in some fun stuff...

21 total 4000-footers this winter, a couple for 2nd time in winter
12 were new this year, did 9 last year, have 21 total

Which includes:
NYE ascent of Washington (1st winter summit of Washington)
Crazy climb up Tuckerman Ravine to Washington
One Day Presi Traverse on Presidents Day...thats 3 winter Washingtons this year
Franconia Ridge Traverse for brother's NH48 completion (amazing undercast)
5 Trailwright peaks
All but 2 hikes were grid hikes
Glissading and Sledding
and Back to Skiing

Not Officially Winter:
A snowy solo October overnight to Isolation and a failed wintry Pemi Loop, and winter climbing 101

It was nice to sit back and watch many of you go for your winter lists over the last couple weeks. Next year, I'm thinking about completing the winter list and also going for single season.

ow2010 said:

I invested in my first pair of snowshoes in November and then I carried them around all winter and never used them

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That's almost exactly what happened to my girlfriend. Nice, shiny, new pair of Tubbs Flex Alps, and they still look brand new. Got to use them for a total of maybe 6 miles this winter. Good thing they don't go bad sitting on the shelf.

bikehikeskifish said:

Yeah, all that driving was not my favorite part. But, it was part of the logistics which Keith requested and shouldn't be discounted if one is considering the SSW48.

Tim

Click to expand...

I hadn't thought of that angle either but when gas goes over $5 per gallon, I'll have another excuse

I was lucky enough to be able to hit 18 winter NH 4ks this year, and having done 19 in a few years past, we have 11 left to go..still, like in other seasons, I would like to explore more in ME, VT, and NY..and got to meet some nice folks from vftt and hope to meet many more! though I hike to enjoy the views, guess i really am doing the winter 48 list..Lefty E

As a SSWR finisher this season, I think logistics are very important, especially for minimizing the number of trips when one lives 150-200 miles away. Getting the most out of every trip minimizes the total number of days away from home (and the associated cost). The most important consideration is that you must know your ability and fitness. What can you do in one day, or in a half day? As always, choosing peaks must take conditions into consideration (but was less of an issue this season). Having previously hiked the 4000 footers in summer should give you a good idea of trails and your ability to combine peaks in one day, adjusted for winter weather and snow conditions.

I grouped the Whites into four areas, mainly for lodging and driving purposes: North/northeast, Pinkham, Crawford, and Lincoln. Then I assigned mountains to one of these areas. Then I looked at the hike distances and ascents and tried to see which mountains could be combined in a single day, driving between trailheads, and which required a full day. Half day hikes were used either for driving days (to or from home) or combined when weather was good into a single day. Yes--doing it this way sometimes resulted in long distances and ascents, but this is peakbagging isn't it???

In developing my hiking strategy, I got a lot of good information from www.48in1winter.com looking at how previous finishers combined peaks and which routes they probably took. I concluded that there was a lot of variety in strategies, with some people doing a lot of peaks one-by-one and others creating long multi-peak days, most likely when the weather was favorable. Bottom line is that you develop a strategy grouping peaks together, then when the day comes look at the weather and snow conditions and decide which hike makes the most sense for a given day from a given location.

JoeCedar said:

...I grouped the Whites into four areas, mainly for lodging and driving purposes: North/northeast, Pinkham, Crawford, and Lincoln. Then I assigned mountains to one of these areas. Then I looked at the hike distances and ascents and tried to see which mountains could be combined in a single day, driving between trailheads, and which required a full day. Half day hikes were used either for driving days (to or from home) or combined when weather was good into a single day. Yes--doing it this way sometimes resulted in long distances and ascents, but this is peakbagging isn't it???....

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Thanks, Joe. This sounds like a smart approach for us as we plan to tackle the any season 48/67, even though we have no desire to do it in a single season. We do have an additional ~200 miles one-way (on top of your 150-200) "commute" to the whites, so this kind of strategy would likely make our pursuit more efficient. Planning to get started this year.