AndyF
New member
It took a total of 13 years. But 11 years passed in between my first and second official winter 4000 footer.
I finished my all season 4000 footers in 1996. That included one official winter peak and a couple peaks in winter conditions, but just outside of official winter in December and March. For ten years my hiking wained and I only hiked a handful of times each year. Then in late 2006 I got back into it again. That winter I got 5 more official winter 4000 footers. When winter of 2007-2008 approach I decided I would go for the winter 4000 footers list. I got 17 peaks that winter. This winter I had 25 peaks left and didn't think I'd finish but could make a good dent in them and have an easy task for the following winter. Halfway through this winter I realized I may actually be able to finish if I threw in a couple extra trips during the week. On Tuesday I finished with a Zealand and Bonds Traverse. This also made for two complete rounds of the 4000 footers having only climbed Bondcliff once prior to this hike.
For the 48 peaks, I took 33 trips plus one failed attempt. 10 of the trips were solo hikes for 13 solo peaks. The other 23 hikes were with various other companions. I'd like to thank those that were on multiple of these trips (DianeM, Grace, Marianne, AndrewB, Spruce, Zach, Milton, Bara, King, Peter, Tom, Scott, Noah, Millie, Peg, Bob A, Chris) as well those who were just there for a single trip (Monica, Michael, Karen d, Mohamed, Silverfox, Jason, Rolly, Jeb, JimL, Alex, J&J, Bob & Geri, Tim, and many more).
The final hike:
Tuesday March 10th, 2009
23.48 miles from 302 in Twin Mountain to Lincoln Woods
03:00 AM wakeup
04:10 AM out the door
06:00 AM meet Jeff at Lincoln Woods for car spot
06:54 AM Start of hike
It is between twilight (6:39 AM) and sunrise (7:08 AM) so there is enough light to see by. Our headlamps would remain in the backpacks for the entire hike. The road is snow covered but firm. We are able to bareboot. Trying to find smoother parts of the road we weave back and forth. Sunrises over the Rosebrook Ridge.
The sky is clear and temps are warming. Hats and gloves come off. We pass by Hale Brook Trail. Jeff needs this still but decide it is best to save it for later. We reach the trail. Soon in we switch to light traction. I use Stabilicers and Jeff uses Microspikes. We would wear these to the hut. Another layer comes off. The trail is well packed from several groups doing the traverse over the weekend. A few inches of snow had fallen the night before.
At the beginning of the hike there is a sign warning of an aggressive moose. We had both read accounts encounters with the moose. Our encounter is detailed in that thread.
We continue to the hut
09:30 AM Zealand Hut
Refill our water. Chow on some snacks. Use the restroom. Chat with caretaker, Julia. Put on sunblock and sunglasses. Change into snowshoes and take in view of Carrigain Notch through Zealand Notch.
Julia has an empty hut and goes for a hike to Guyot, leaving a few minutes ahead of us. The trail gets more closed in and the fresh snow on the trees is starting to melt as we brush through it.
10:39 AM Zeacliff
At Zeacliff we catch up with Julia coming back from the view point. We check out the view.
We break the back half of the loop to the viewpoint and rejoin Julia's tracks. We get to a point where the trail goes down when we think we should be near the Zealand spur. We back track a hundred feet and Jeff spots the spur sign at ankle height. We make our way to Mt. Zealand summit.
11:37 AM Mt. Zealand #45
At this point the melting snow and low branches have made it like going through a car wash and we are both wet. With the warm temps and uphill climb sweat has only added to it. It is warm enough that we are not cold and have extra clothes to change into if needed. The sun is shining and there is a halo around the sun.
We can see some dark clouds encompassing Guyot, but hope they pass. The forecast had only a slight chance of precipitation. We continue on to the north peak of Guyot and sure enough it has cleared up. There is less blue sky now and a thin blanket of clouds up high. From there we see Julia ahead on the south bump. Guyot is one of my favorite places in the Whites. It is in the middle of nowhere and in the alpine zone.
No signs of roads, ski areas, or any man made structures. The view of West Bond with it's double peak, the long ridge of Owl's Head, snow capped Franconia Ridge, the numerous rock slides near and far.
12:32 PM Mt. Guyot
Over the south bump and into the trees, and up from the col. We reach the West Bond spur. Apparently Julia had decided to continue on to Bond. We drop our packs, and slackpack the half mile to West Bond. We get a good view of our final target, Bondcliff.
We take our pictures and a summit shot
01:22 PM West Bond #46
Back down to our packs and we find a good bye message from Julia written in the snow. Now spoiled from hiking without packs we lug back onto our shoulders and make our way to Mt. Bond.
I finished my all season 4000 footers in 1996. That included one official winter peak and a couple peaks in winter conditions, but just outside of official winter in December and March. For ten years my hiking wained and I only hiked a handful of times each year. Then in late 2006 I got back into it again. That winter I got 5 more official winter 4000 footers. When winter of 2007-2008 approach I decided I would go for the winter 4000 footers list. I got 17 peaks that winter. This winter I had 25 peaks left and didn't think I'd finish but could make a good dent in them and have an easy task for the following winter. Halfway through this winter I realized I may actually be able to finish if I threw in a couple extra trips during the week. On Tuesday I finished with a Zealand and Bonds Traverse. This also made for two complete rounds of the 4000 footers having only climbed Bondcliff once prior to this hike.
For the 48 peaks, I took 33 trips plus one failed attempt. 10 of the trips were solo hikes for 13 solo peaks. The other 23 hikes were with various other companions. I'd like to thank those that were on multiple of these trips (DianeM, Grace, Marianne, AndrewB, Spruce, Zach, Milton, Bara, King, Peter, Tom, Scott, Noah, Millie, Peg, Bob A, Chris) as well those who were just there for a single trip (Monica, Michael, Karen d, Mohamed, Silverfox, Jason, Rolly, Jeb, JimL, Alex, J&J, Bob & Geri, Tim, and many more).
The final hike:
Tuesday March 10th, 2009
23.48 miles from 302 in Twin Mountain to Lincoln Woods
03:00 AM wakeup
04:10 AM out the door
06:00 AM meet Jeff at Lincoln Woods for car spot
06:54 AM Start of hike
It is between twilight (6:39 AM) and sunrise (7:08 AM) so there is enough light to see by. Our headlamps would remain in the backpacks for the entire hike. The road is snow covered but firm. We are able to bareboot. Trying to find smoother parts of the road we weave back and forth. Sunrises over the Rosebrook Ridge.
The sky is clear and temps are warming. Hats and gloves come off. We pass by Hale Brook Trail. Jeff needs this still but decide it is best to save it for later. We reach the trail. Soon in we switch to light traction. I use Stabilicers and Jeff uses Microspikes. We would wear these to the hut. Another layer comes off. The trail is well packed from several groups doing the traverse over the weekend. A few inches of snow had fallen the night before.
At the beginning of the hike there is a sign warning of an aggressive moose. We had both read accounts encounters with the moose. Our encounter is detailed in that thread.
We continue to the hut
09:30 AM Zealand Hut
Refill our water. Chow on some snacks. Use the restroom. Chat with caretaker, Julia. Put on sunblock and sunglasses. Change into snowshoes and take in view of Carrigain Notch through Zealand Notch.
Julia has an empty hut and goes for a hike to Guyot, leaving a few minutes ahead of us. The trail gets more closed in and the fresh snow on the trees is starting to melt as we brush through it.
10:39 AM Zeacliff
At Zeacliff we catch up with Julia coming back from the view point. We check out the view.
We break the back half of the loop to the viewpoint and rejoin Julia's tracks. We get to a point where the trail goes down when we think we should be near the Zealand spur. We back track a hundred feet and Jeff spots the spur sign at ankle height. We make our way to Mt. Zealand summit.
11:37 AM Mt. Zealand #45
At this point the melting snow and low branches have made it like going through a car wash and we are both wet. With the warm temps and uphill climb sweat has only added to it. It is warm enough that we are not cold and have extra clothes to change into if needed. The sun is shining and there is a halo around the sun.
We can see some dark clouds encompassing Guyot, but hope they pass. The forecast had only a slight chance of precipitation. We continue on to the north peak of Guyot and sure enough it has cleared up. There is less blue sky now and a thin blanket of clouds up high. From there we see Julia ahead on the south bump. Guyot is one of my favorite places in the Whites. It is in the middle of nowhere and in the alpine zone.
No signs of roads, ski areas, or any man made structures. The view of West Bond with it's double peak, the long ridge of Owl's Head, snow capped Franconia Ridge, the numerous rock slides near and far.
12:32 PM Mt. Guyot
Over the south bump and into the trees, and up from the col. We reach the West Bond spur. Apparently Julia had decided to continue on to Bond. We drop our packs, and slackpack the half mile to West Bond. We get a good view of our final target, Bondcliff.
We take our pictures and a summit shot
01:22 PM West Bond #46
Back down to our packs and we find a good bye message from Julia written in the snow. Now spoiled from hiking without packs we lug back onto our shoulders and make our way to Mt. Bond.
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