MOWGLI
04-08-2006, 15:49
From the Conway Daily Sun;
Hiking: Seaver does winter 4,000 footers in under 10 days
— It seems like yesterday that I wrote a piece about Tim Seaver’s July 2003 record climb of the 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers. He had taken 3 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, setting a new record. On a recent hike up Mount Chocorua, I found out from another hiker that Seaver had just finished a March climb of the winter 4,000’ers in 9 days, 20 hours and 24 minutes. Later I contacted him. Sure, he said; he and his wife had been thinking of contacting me to do a story.
Seaver’s winter 4,000’ers trip was different in many ways from his summer one. It was more relaxed. It wasn’t done in ultra-marathon style, sleeping in a van driven around the mountains by his wife. On the winter trip, Seaver returned nightly to the Northlander Hotel in Twin Mountain. Second, he didn’t do it alone. Cathy Goodwin of Thornton did all 48 peaks with him. At night she drove home. Andy Hawley and Jeff Veino also came along on many of the hikes. This group kept their record-setting intentions secret until the hike was over.
They hiked 11 to 14 hours a day, and after drying their gear, managed about 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. They encountered a lot of icy conditions. Before the hike, Seaver used a sheet rock gun to implant motorcycle ice-racing screws in the soles of his boots – replacing crampons on much of the hike, through crampons were often still needed. He alternated between three pairs of Gortex and nylon boots. He used Leki Poles. Often snowshoes were needed by the group.
They had a lot of gear changes in mid-hike, and carried 20- to 25-pound packs. Unlike the summer ultra-marathon, the winter traverse was a photographic boon for Seaver, who is a professional photographer. He took 1,000 images. Check out some of these color images and his own words at
www.vermontphoto.com/wildwhites/w48x9/
The amazing thing about the trip is what they accomplished every day, day after day. With a gap of good weather they got the high stuff over the first few days. The first day they did the Franconias, and then after some hot mac and cheese, did the Hancocks, finishing in the dark. Day Two was a one day Presidential traverse. A humorous side-story occurred after Andy Hawley bailed out on the Jewell Trail. Down at the Cog base, he was attracted to a sign for free hot coffee. But he was too quick. The nonreturnable mug cost $7.
The others reached Crawford Notch well after dark.
An unavoidable factor in doing the winter 4,000’ers, is hiking in on unplowed Forest Service roads. The next day, they did Mount Hale, Zealand Mountain and the Bonds. They walked in on Zealand Road to the Mount Hale Trail, later took the Lend-A-Hand Trail down to Zealand Hut, and started up the Twinway. After the Bonds they walked out the Lincoln Woods Trail to the Kanc. Just another day in the mountains.
On Day 4, they hit the first of the bad weather. They did the Osceolas in the morning, then started in the Lincoln Woods Trail to get Owl’s Head. It started snowing. The slide on Owl’s Head was solid ice, covered with new snow. Seaver wished he had an ice ax at that point. “Owl’s Head was a trip in itself,” he said with some understatement. Still they had been lucky. The “wintry mix” and rain forecasted, had not reached them.
They did Carrigain and the Willey Range in cloudy weather on the fifth day. The first two miles was walking on Sawyer River Road. They summited Carrigain at 10:30 a.m., and on the way down caught some much needed sun. But that was the last of it. On Tom, Field and Willey, the fog grew thick. They summitted on Willey at 6.01 p.m.
On Day 6, they did Garfield, Galehead and the Twins. They had some blue sky on the summits. But the mixed trail surface was slick and unpredictable, with loose snow over ice and rock, leading to dangerous slips on the descents. Because of that effort, they canceled their plan to climb Mount Waumbek in the afternoon, extending their completion estimate from eight to nine days.
The next day they did the Wildcats and the Carter-Moriah Range. They started by climbing the trusty Polecat Trail on Wildcat Ski Area. Trail conditions were good and they bare-booted most of the way across the Carter-Moriah Range. But they found hairy ice conditions on the way down the trail to Gorham.
Day 8 was a day for two obscure peaks, Mount Isolation and Mount Cabot. The weather deteriorated. They started into Isolation on the Rocky Branch Trail and reached the summit at 10:15 a.m. On the way out they did an interesting bushwhack through birches over Engine Hill. Back on the trail again, rain came down in sheets. Later they arrived at the “dangerous” Mount Cabot Trail trailhead in Jefferson (an accessibility dispute with the landowner). As for the hike, in Seaver’s words, “Cabot was a slog for the most part, a drizzling and dark journey of despair up a rutted and flooded road of dismal darkness. Ok, let’s just say I was not in the brightest of moods on this particular hike.” The weather, and the miles they had to go, were getting to them.
The next morning it was raining. After quickly knocking off Mount Waumbek, they headed over to the Kinsman Ridge and the Fishin Jimmy Trail. They renamed it the Swimmin’ Jimmy Trail for the seriously flooded stream crossings and treacherous ice. The trail was in better shape up on the Kinsman Ridge. On the way back down, Cathy Goodwin was not feeling well, so she and Jeff bailed out on the Fishin’ Jimmy, and the Seavers continued alone to Cannon Mountain, descending a ski trail in the dark.
The last day was their longest by far, extending well into the next morning. They climbed six mountains; Moosilauke, the Tripyramids, Whiteface, Passaconaway, Tecumseh, and Cannon again for Cathy Goodwin. An arctic wind tore over the summits that day. Above the trees on Moosilauke, they walked with arms locked for stability up to a dip just below the summit. Once back in the trees, they relaxed a bit. The rest of the day would be below treeline.
They zipped across Trypyramid with just the normal obstructions. But on the Kate Sleeper Trail they had to avoid tracks of bymouths. “Many were the moose post-holes along the Sleeper Trail,” wrote Seaver. “Evidently, they didn’t get the memo.” The climbers then cramponed up Passaconaway, and down the Dicey’s Mill Trail.
They started up Mount Tecumseh at midnight.
“Although we were pretty well whipped, the group momentum seemed to be there to carry us through the rest of this journey tonight, come hell or high water,” wrote Seaver.
After descending, they drove over to Cannon and went up the Ravine Ski Trail for a relatively protected ascent. Although Seaver had technically finished at the base of Mount Tecumseh, having already climbed Cannon, he went with the others up Cannon. It was a surreal climb in a snow storm at 2 a.m., after neary 24 hours on the trail, with spaceship-like groomers driving by. The team finished back at the bottom of Cannon at 4:36 a.m., for a group time of 9 days, 23 hours and 13 minutes.
Hiking: Seaver does winter 4,000 footers in under 10 days
— It seems like yesterday that I wrote a piece about Tim Seaver’s July 2003 record climb of the 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers. He had taken 3 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, setting a new record. On a recent hike up Mount Chocorua, I found out from another hiker that Seaver had just finished a March climb of the winter 4,000’ers in 9 days, 20 hours and 24 minutes. Later I contacted him. Sure, he said; he and his wife had been thinking of contacting me to do a story.
Seaver’s winter 4,000’ers trip was different in many ways from his summer one. It was more relaxed. It wasn’t done in ultra-marathon style, sleeping in a van driven around the mountains by his wife. On the winter trip, Seaver returned nightly to the Northlander Hotel in Twin Mountain. Second, he didn’t do it alone. Cathy Goodwin of Thornton did all 48 peaks with him. At night she drove home. Andy Hawley and Jeff Veino also came along on many of the hikes. This group kept their record-setting intentions secret until the hike was over.
They hiked 11 to 14 hours a day, and after drying their gear, managed about 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night. They encountered a lot of icy conditions. Before the hike, Seaver used a sheet rock gun to implant motorcycle ice-racing screws in the soles of his boots – replacing crampons on much of the hike, through crampons were often still needed. He alternated between three pairs of Gortex and nylon boots. He used Leki Poles. Often snowshoes were needed by the group.
They had a lot of gear changes in mid-hike, and carried 20- to 25-pound packs. Unlike the summer ultra-marathon, the winter traverse was a photographic boon for Seaver, who is a professional photographer. He took 1,000 images. Check out some of these color images and his own words at
www.vermontphoto.com/wildwhites/w48x9/
The amazing thing about the trip is what they accomplished every day, day after day. With a gap of good weather they got the high stuff over the first few days. The first day they did the Franconias, and then after some hot mac and cheese, did the Hancocks, finishing in the dark. Day Two was a one day Presidential traverse. A humorous side-story occurred after Andy Hawley bailed out on the Jewell Trail. Down at the Cog base, he was attracted to a sign for free hot coffee. But he was too quick. The nonreturnable mug cost $7.
The others reached Crawford Notch well after dark.
An unavoidable factor in doing the winter 4,000’ers, is hiking in on unplowed Forest Service roads. The next day, they did Mount Hale, Zealand Mountain and the Bonds. They walked in on Zealand Road to the Mount Hale Trail, later took the Lend-A-Hand Trail down to Zealand Hut, and started up the Twinway. After the Bonds they walked out the Lincoln Woods Trail to the Kanc. Just another day in the mountains.
On Day 4, they hit the first of the bad weather. They did the Osceolas in the morning, then started in the Lincoln Woods Trail to get Owl’s Head. It started snowing. The slide on Owl’s Head was solid ice, covered with new snow. Seaver wished he had an ice ax at that point. “Owl’s Head was a trip in itself,” he said with some understatement. Still they had been lucky. The “wintry mix” and rain forecasted, had not reached them.
They did Carrigain and the Willey Range in cloudy weather on the fifth day. The first two miles was walking on Sawyer River Road. They summited Carrigain at 10:30 a.m., and on the way down caught some much needed sun. But that was the last of it. On Tom, Field and Willey, the fog grew thick. They summitted on Willey at 6.01 p.m.
On Day 6, they did Garfield, Galehead and the Twins. They had some blue sky on the summits. But the mixed trail surface was slick and unpredictable, with loose snow over ice and rock, leading to dangerous slips on the descents. Because of that effort, they canceled their plan to climb Mount Waumbek in the afternoon, extending their completion estimate from eight to nine days.
The next day they did the Wildcats and the Carter-Moriah Range. They started by climbing the trusty Polecat Trail on Wildcat Ski Area. Trail conditions were good and they bare-booted most of the way across the Carter-Moriah Range. But they found hairy ice conditions on the way down the trail to Gorham.
Day 8 was a day for two obscure peaks, Mount Isolation and Mount Cabot. The weather deteriorated. They started into Isolation on the Rocky Branch Trail and reached the summit at 10:15 a.m. On the way out they did an interesting bushwhack through birches over Engine Hill. Back on the trail again, rain came down in sheets. Later they arrived at the “dangerous” Mount Cabot Trail trailhead in Jefferson (an accessibility dispute with the landowner). As for the hike, in Seaver’s words, “Cabot was a slog for the most part, a drizzling and dark journey of despair up a rutted and flooded road of dismal darkness. Ok, let’s just say I was not in the brightest of moods on this particular hike.” The weather, and the miles they had to go, were getting to them.
The next morning it was raining. After quickly knocking off Mount Waumbek, they headed over to the Kinsman Ridge and the Fishin Jimmy Trail. They renamed it the Swimmin’ Jimmy Trail for the seriously flooded stream crossings and treacherous ice. The trail was in better shape up on the Kinsman Ridge. On the way back down, Cathy Goodwin was not feeling well, so she and Jeff bailed out on the Fishin’ Jimmy, and the Seavers continued alone to Cannon Mountain, descending a ski trail in the dark.
The last day was their longest by far, extending well into the next morning. They climbed six mountains; Moosilauke, the Tripyramids, Whiteface, Passaconaway, Tecumseh, and Cannon again for Cathy Goodwin. An arctic wind tore over the summits that day. Above the trees on Moosilauke, they walked with arms locked for stability up to a dip just below the summit. Once back in the trees, they relaxed a bit. The rest of the day would be below treeline.
They zipped across Trypyramid with just the normal obstructions. But on the Kate Sleeper Trail they had to avoid tracks of bymouths. “Many were the moose post-holes along the Sleeper Trail,” wrote Seaver. “Evidently, they didn’t get the memo.” The climbers then cramponed up Passaconaway, and down the Dicey’s Mill Trail.
They started up Mount Tecumseh at midnight.
“Although we were pretty well whipped, the group momentum seemed to be there to carry us through the rest of this journey tonight, come hell or high water,” wrote Seaver.
After descending, they drove over to Cannon and went up the Ravine Ski Trail for a relatively protected ascent. Although Seaver had technically finished at the base of Mount Tecumseh, having already climbed Cannon, he went with the others up Cannon. It was a surreal climb in a snow storm at 2 a.m., after neary 24 hours on the trail, with spaceship-like groomers driving by. The team finished back at the bottom of Cannon at 4:36 a.m., for a group time of 9 days, 23 hours and 13 minutes.