Bigelow Attempt

[Robs]

I've been trying to get Bigelow in winter since I've started liking hiking. I'm making an attempt tomorrow, bright and early, weather depending. If anyone wants to come along, I could use the company and you're more than welcome. XC-skiing in as far as possible, then snow shoes/crampons up. I'll either go the AT and do the Horns, West and Avery and come down on Fire Warden's, or, (more likely) park at the AT, hook up with Fire Warden's Trail and do Avery, then West, then, if there's enough time, come down on the AT and see the Horns. If there isn't time, back down Fire Warden's.

I'm leaving from Orono Really early if anyone wants to share a ride. Weather says partly cloudy and 9 degrees.

 

[spencer]

Good luck! Eustis got 41" of snow last night. I wouldn't want to try breaking that amount of snow without a few helpers...

be careful...

 

[Robs]

12/23 change

41 inches is a lot more than I thought it'd be; thanks for the heads up. It's a really long hike into the foot of Bigelow, so I'll settle for the Crockers if it's not too bad, or Sugarloaf with a Spaulding option if it's just altogether too deep for anything.

 

[una_dogger]

28-32 at the Sugarloaf Base this morning with strong winds from the northeast hitting 50mph at the top of the Superquad! Super epic powder day- very tough for any above treeline hiking.
Hope you had fun, whatever you decide!

 

[Robs]

Went up sugarloaf, great trip. Posted a trip report with equipment stuff. I couldn't find the AT at the summit, but it didn't matter: the snow in that area is too deep to do anything with. I'm talking chest deep, and I'm 6'1".

 

[MichaelJ]

What route did you take up?

 

[Robs]

I went on candyside from the superquad, then took Hayburner, which was ungroomed enough to make snowshoes slide a lot. At the top of the superquad, a guy told me there were cables out for the groomers, so I had to backtrack to timberline, and took that up. I took timberline to scoot to tote down.