Winter thru hike.

[Deadeye]

And if you do go, send me a PM when the time comes - I might be able to help with transporting, resupplying or out-bailing.

[Yukon]

Man, some of those peaks up north are brutal just in the summer, I can't imagine how difficult it would be in the winter. There are places were it's literally straight up then down and it would be a hell of a challenge. You would be breaking trail for a large portion of the hike, especially in the north. And the cold, I mean COLD. I work for a ski resort in Vermont, and we see summit temps with wind chills FAR below zero. We hit -67 last year, that was a brutal night. I'm not one to stop anyone from a challenge, but this would have to be a very well planned undertaking with many emergency plans to get off the trail. Good luck and godspeed to anyone willing to attempt it!

[colorado_rob]

Man, some of those peaks up north are brutal just in the summer, I can't imagine how difficult it would be in the winter. There are places were it's literally straight up then down and it would be a hell of a challenge. You would be breaking trail for a large portion of the hike, especially in the north. And the cold, I mean COLD.

Neither steep climbing in winter, nor bitter cold are of concern; it only takes the right gear and experience to surmount those obstacles. It's the duration of the attempt that is the grave concern. I doubt if I'm up for more than about 3-4 weeks of such conditions.

Sure, there are some light years, like last year, but few and far between. Despite the small size of the state, there's often a huge difference from south to north and by elevation on any given day, especially in winter. The snow doesn't have to be all that deep to make a real difference in travel times and effort, and as someone above said, the LT is 3-4 weeks in summer, likely near double that in winter. I'd go, but be prepared to bail, you could get lucky!

Yeah, not looking too likely to have much of a chance to get something like this done in a month, but maybe just doing 3-4 weeks worth of the LT in winter would be very satisfying, however far that ends up being.

And if you do go, send me a PM when the time comes - I might be able to help with transporting, resupplying or out-bailing.

Thanks!!!!

[mark schofield]

Hi OP.not trying to give advice. How many miles do you think you'll do a day? and what kind of shelter will you be using. Dawn to dusk in January is quite short, and things always seem to take longer when its cold. And the trail its self will be completely different. What a neat challenge. Please keep us posted,

[egilbe]

Hi OP.not trying to give advice. How many miles do you think you'll do a day? and what kind of shelter will you be using. Dawn to dusk in January is quite short, and things always seem to take longer when its cold. And the trail its self will be completely different. What a neat challenge. Please keep us posted,

Its a long night in the bag when you go to bed at 4pm.

[Styles_for_miles]

Its a long night in the bag when you go to bed at 4pm.

In the winter in the white mountains I can usually do 8-10 but while I'm hiking in october I am going to be taking notes, I have the gear for winter backpacking, thanks for all this great info


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[colorado_rob]

Its a long night in the bag when you go to bed at 4pm.

More like 6-7pm (but I know it will get dark earlier than this), but yeah, this is one of the major challenges of winter backpacking. Of course a big, bright headlamp extends the day, and personally, I'm a voracious reader when on the trail, hence a major reason I carry one of those EVIL cell thingies (used mostly as a Kindle reader). This short-day thing also gets much better in February/early March, though I suspect snow conditions are tougher then than in December/January.

[Slo-go'en]

More like 6-7pm (but I know it will get dark earlier than this), but yeah, this is one of the major challenges of winter backpacking. Of course a big, bright headlamp extends the day, and personally, I'm a voracious reader when on the trail, hence a major reason I carry one of those EVIL cell thingies (used mostly as a Kindle reader). This short-day thing also gets much better in February/early March, though I suspect snow conditions are tougher then than in December/January.

Sunset is about 4 PM in Vermont during December. On overcast days, being on the east side of the ridge or down in a ravine and it can be getting dark as early as 3 PM. Sunrise is about 7:30 AM and getting up that early when it's wicked cold out is not easy. So you got maybe 6-7 hours of daylight to use. If your breaking trail, you might be going 1/2 to 1/4 mile an hour.

You do much better in March, sunrise is about 6:30 AM and sunset 5:30 PM so now you got about 12 hours of daylight to work with. However, March tends to be a stormy month and the snow depth is at it's highest.

[colorado_rob]

You do much better in March, sunrise is about 6:30 AM and sunset 5:30 PM so now you got about 12 hours of daylight to work with. However, March tends to be a stormy month and the snow depth is at it's highest.

That's the tradeoff, precisely, with perhaps a mid-late January start being a nice compromise. But I keep thinking back to a December 26-27 start (Christmas is sacrosanct in my family!) and lots of headlamp batteries. I think snow depth will be the #1 show stopper here, well, besides the mental fatigue of this whole silly notion.

[Slo-go'en]

The coldest temps arrive here from Mid Feb to early March. One needs to be ready to deal with -20F lows and wind chills off the bottom of the chart.

But winters aren't like they used to be around here. Their getting short, but intense. It's getting so you just don't know what to expect any more.

[Deadeye]

But winters aren't like they used to be around here. Their getting short, but intense. It's getting so you just don't know what to expect any more.

True that. As the old saying goes, "things ain't like they used to be, and they never were"

[egilbe]

You know whats worse than deep snow in early March? Crumbly melting deep snow that won't hold a snowshoe and is too deep to bare boot. Post-holing sucks!

[James GAME2009]

I admire you for seeking out a difficult challenge. If you attempt it, the trail will be slow, lonely, and a bit desolate. Your pack will be heavy with more food than normal, heavier (warmer) gear than normal, etc. There will be long hours of darkness and cold.

The Long Trail in winter has been attempted/done multiple times before. I remember reading in the Long Trail News some time ago about a couple who attempted it. I do not remember if they were successful. Here is a link to some folks who attempted it a few years back, perhaps the same couple as in the article: https://www.facebook.com/Long-Trail-...&tab=page_info Here's an old White Blaze thread on this topic, complete with someone weighing in who has done what you are considering: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...-January-(2011) It looks like Wolf is still active on White Blaze. Perhaps PM him with more specific questions.

Looking around online a bit I find mention of a few other folks completing it in winter, and surely there are others who haven't publicized it. Regardless, you would be in rare company if successful and would have one heck of an adventure.

[Styles_for_miles]

I admire you for seeking out a difficult challenge. If you attempt it, the trail will be slow, lonely, and a bit desolate. Your pack will be heavy with more food than normal, heavier (warmer) gear than normal, etc. There will be long hours of darkness and cold.

The Long Trail in winter has been attempted/done multiple times before. I remember reading in the Long Trail News some time ago about a couple who attempted it. I do not remember if they were successful. Here is a link to some folks who attempted it a few years back, perhaps the same couple as in the article: https://www.facebook.com/Long-Trail-...&tab=page_info Here's an old White Blaze thread on this topic, complete with someone weighing in who has done what you are considering: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...-January-(2011) It looks like Wolf is still active on White Blaze. Perhaps PM him with more specific questions.

Looking around online a bit I find mention of a few other folks completing it in winter, and surely there are others who haven't publicized it. Regardless, you would be in rare company if successful and would have one heck of an adventure.

Thank you for so much good feedback! Thank you


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[colorado_rob]

I did read that FB page of the young couple that gave it a good shot, they almost made it, then bailed to the lower trail for a while during the last 60 miles. Great info on their page though. This is the closest I've found, still haven't seen it done all the way yet, though most certainly, someone with more resolve than I have has to have done it.

One recurring theme is route finding, making it really important to get a great set of waypoints during this late summer/early fall LT attempt.

[Ktaadn]

Vermont is not the Himalayas. That doesn't mean it would be easy, but I think the hype has gone a little too far.

[colorado_rob]

Vermont is not the Himalayas. That doesn't mean it would be easy, but I think the hype has gone a little too far.

I personally don't see any hype in the responses, but that's just me. What is continually intriguing about this is that I cannot find anyone on record who has done this.

[peakbagger]

I used to date a girl over near the north end of the trail. We only summited about 1/2 the time on day hikes in winter. The trail is not well traveled in winter so a beaten path is not guaranteed. In the open hardwoods the trail may not be obvious and the blazes may be buried. Most of the ridge line is dense spruce and fir. There are natural openings in this spruce and fir that may or may not be the trail so there is a lot of route finding. Even when on the trail snowshoeing in powder up a steep stretch can be lesson in futility. If I used my larger powder shoes they were too large for maneuvering, if I used my mountaineering shoes they didn't have enough flotation. Rarely is there a reliable crust until late winter. Even if there is crust, frequently it gets covered with powder and doesn't set up hard so then its even more difficult going as the crust breaks below the snow and then every step requires more effort to pull the leg out than taking the next step.

I expect someone has done it like the individual did the AT last winter. We had a very late onset of winter and not a lot of snow in general so I expect the snow pack was far lower making travel a lot quicker.

[Another Kevin]

You know whats worse than deep snow in early March? Crumbly melting deep snow that won't hold a snowshoe and is too deep to bare boot. Post-holing sucks!

Worse yet: slushy spring ice that won't hold a crampon and parts company with the rock.

[Ktaadn]

Looks like they did all but 40 miles.

https://www.facebook.com/Long-Trail-...6865426697415/

Day hiker. Would probably be a good resource if you could track him down.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/88574...-joplin-james/