katahdin in winter

Is anyone familiar with the Abel trial to Katahdin? Is the Roaring Brook and Chimney Pond route the only way up?

Trial of the Abol Slide

Hi twargo,

You can go up any way you like as long as you can get your trip proposal approved.

I'm going to say that the Abol Slide route is the second most common in winter, if you lump together all the routes out of Chimney Pond.

Several VFTT posters have done it, and I look forward to their comments as well.

I'm a bad speller

abol not abel.

thanks for the info. i'm curious to see what others have to say also.

What do you want to know? It's a great hike! Search the forums here for abol slide and my name and you'll probably find some useful answers.

At least one board member has done the trip in one day. I've done it by heading in during the afternoon, camping at Abol and heading up, down, and out the next day. home in time for dinner. On the way in, we bushwacked through the old burned area and on the way out, we walked the road.

I suspect, although I haven't done it, that with skis and good weather, it's not that difficult of a trip in a day.

when are you thinking of going?

spencer

Twargo, you should keep in mind (since I don't know your experience level) that it's a pretty steep slide. I have only done it without snow and ice, though. On a sunny day it makes a pretty good frying pan!

twargo: Abol is right up your alley (I've only done it long ago in late June though). Michael joining you?

I've done Abol slide in winter (long time ago) from Abol Campground. Didn't have much snow that year. The slide was a mixture of easy rock (non-technical--a hiker can do it with occasional use of hands) and ice--we had to wear crampons most or all of the way. It may be the easiest route to the summit in winter if one includes the approach.

Be sure to leave some wands leading back to the head of the slide from the Tableland--it is not obvious from above. Also take a compass back bearing from the summit and/or set a GPS waypoint at the top of the slide.

BTW, the compass bearing may not be reliable due to magnetic rocks.

I understand that snow avalanches are possible on the slide if there is enough snow.

Doug

thanks for all the info

sherpakroto,

yes this trip is michaels idea. now that he has finished his winter 46 he is moving on to other challenges.

sounds like the abol route will be an exciting trip. and afterall, i do love to use crampons!

Friendly Rangers

SherpaKroto

We have made friends with the Rangers, but shudder to ask outright about Biviing, ya know above etc. and where etc. We haven’t found any regulations yet. We plan to go up Abols and wonder how far you can drive up in the winter and how many mile the trip would be. We would then camp where ever and return the next day. We have wondered if it would be worth it to traverse the mountain to Chiminy Pond. We still need to define the difficulties as regarding what type of technical gear (if any) we would need to bring. No matter what, I suspect we will be carrying more than our typical 22 pounds of winter camping gear. We are looking for dates that our two strongest players Paul Boni, and Paul Froehlich, (Tracy is very strong but can’t carry me) can join us. They both have high mountain experience as well as the technical skills and fitness required for this type of hike.
Any information and good beta on this route would be appreciated.

Thanks to everyone.

Michael

You can drive to Abol Bridge on the Golden Rd. (the standard winter trailhead) and hike/ski to the perimeter rd. from there (1.0 miles). Take a left on the perimeter rd. and go 2.7 miles to Abol campground. From there, the summit is 2.8 to the Tableland where the Abol Tr. meets the AT/Hunt Tr. Head northeast on the AT 1.0 miles to the summit. If it's nasty up there, when you reach the top of the Abol slide (trust me, you'll know it when you hit the top) take a magnetic bearing of 55 degrees, go one mile and you ought to get right on the summit.

The very top of the slide holds snow, so keep your eyes out for avy conditions. Most of the slide doesn't hold enough snow to be of much concern.

If you want to traverse to Chimney Pond, it's a whole other kind of trip b/c you'll then have to get out of the park via a very long 14 miles (10-11 of which is on the unplowed perimeter road).

Have fun!

spencer

Old and Lazy

Spencer

Thanks for the great Beta!
Being kind of on the lazy side we are going to have snowmobiles take us in and pick us up. While I am not so crazy about this from and environmental standpoint, I do fly to remote locations to stage a climb and both time and life is to short. A local tells me that he can drop us at the Abol camp directly and pick us up at "the gate??" after descending from chimney pond. Would you know how much mileage this would save?

I am hoping also that we can find a couloir on the knife-edge to jump in and get down fast to shorten our decent time. Any beta on this would be helpful as jumping in the wrong couloir is a classic mountaineering disaster.

Thanks again and maybe you would like to join us

Michael

winter 46

I am only working on my winter 46. I'm halfway there but have climbed alot of the untrailed peaks.

The Katahdin adventure is a Michael idea from two years ago. I didn't even know where Katahdin was back then. Michael is the true pioneer and engineer of adventures, I am lucky to be invited along for the ride.

Michael/Twargo: Others (Spencer/Go/Nadine/Twigeater/Tramper Al for a few) are far more knowledgeable about BSP in winter. I commented on Tracy's initial question because I know you, and just wanted to provide a level set for you. For specifics - talk to those folks mentioned - you'll get great advice. That being said, I head to Katahdin tomorrow

Abol - Katadin

So how was the trip up Katahdin twargo?

Mystery solved

Hi Kyle! We didn't go. Next year.