Katahdin Winter Ascent

Distances

Saturday
3 miles (almost entirely uphill) from Golden Rd to Abol campground

Sunday
3.8 miles from Abol campground to Baxter peak = (2 miles of uphill wooded trail + 0.8 miles of rock slides [Abol slide] + 1 mile of tableland)
3.8 miles from Baxter peak to Abol campground
3 miles from Abol campground to Golden Rd

Weather Conditions

Saturday: sunny, big cloud on top of katahdin, upper 20s

Sunday morning: sunny, clear sky, upper 20s

Sunday at tableland: 40-50mph winds with 60mph gusts

Sunday at summit: 50-60mph winds with 70mph gusts

Sunday after summit: upper 30s (snow melting and sticking to crampons)

Meals

Saturday = instant mashed potatoes + chicken with sautéed veggies and thai peanut sauce

Sunday = oatmeal + pop-tarts

Lunch = summer sausage + clif bars + snickers bar (made me nauseous on Sunday) + white cheddar cheese

Packed/Brought Items

(*didn’t use) (†daypack) (◊never packed)

Sleeping bag (-20F)
Fleece vest*†
Fleece hooded sweatshirt†
Orange/blue postal jacket*†
Double plastic mountaineering boots
Crampons†
Ice ax†
Nalgene bottle†
5 pairs of socks (used 4 pair)† (◊2 pair)
ski boots
X-C skis
Ski poles
climbing helmet†
snowshoes†
sleeping pad
camera†
BSP map*†
Fruit snacks (2) †
Toothbrush*†
Toothpaste*†
ID*†
Money*†
Athletic tape†
Fleece gloves†
Black polyester gloves†
Burton oven mittens†
Gore-tex bibs
Fleece pants◊
Burton long johns◊
Windpants◊
EB shell jacket◊
Long-sleeve cold under armour shirt◊
Short-sleeve warm under armour shirt◊
Lunch†
Fleece hat◊
Synthetic balaclava
Neoprene facemask
Ski goggles◊
Headlamp
Synthetic liner gloves

Miscellaneous Notes

Saturday
Skied up the tote road for almost all of the 3 miles; very steep in places
Made a 4-person snow cave at abol campground; 6ft tall, 8-9ft diameter; took 3-4hrs to complete
Took a long time to get to sleep and didn’t sleep well because of the cold, even with the snow cave

Sunday
Made it from abol to summit (2 miles of snowshoeing + 0.8 miles of rock scrambling + 1 mile of high wind exposure) in 5hrs
Left abol campground at 6am, returned to van (10.6 miles round-trip) before sunset @ 5:14
2 miles of snowshoeing was the most difficult leg of the trip; 1 person turned back to camp during the snowshoeing
One person lost a glove and a nalgene bottle down the mountain at the summit
I lost an empty Gatorade bottle down abol slide
Snickers bar + eating snow with waxy mittens = nauseous
Best possible weather conditions for winter ascent of the summit; extremely small (2-3 days) window for opportunity
Should have had ski poles for the climb up from abol campground
Coming down abol slide was very tricky and we had to zig-zag down most of it because of the steepness
Took off crampons at tree line and didn’t use snowshoes for the hike down

Photos

Images

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