(Roadside) Katahdin Coolers?
I asked Zach if he was sure this cooler he spoke of would get us back to the strange lot we were parked in, and he insisted it would dump us out just a quarter mile from the car. We followed the ridge to a peak–Pamola maybe–and were impressed by the view.
Zach confidently pushed through some bushes assured of his route–he had clearly put in some serious time to figure out how this mountain worked. We were unbelievably thankful for his willingness to help us find our way. We followed behind him and managed to make a few guarded turns on the steep terrain peppered with krumholz.
Suddenly the mountain fell away, and an incredible ski zone spread out before us. I was psyched!
I said: “Look: A bald eagle!” Translation: “I’ll go first. In fact I’m already gone.”
KC followed up behind me sulking that she got taken by the old “bald eagle” trick yet again.
Read about the author: Greg
26 Comments
Jamie B
wrote on March 21st, 2010 at 5:42 pmGuy…
Cool TR!
Cheers, to keeping sacred places…sacred.
Zach
wrote on March 21st, 2010 at 8:16 pmJamie,
Nice running into you up there. I was the guy chilling below, watching you absolutely rip the left side. Way to get it man. Keep on keeping on.
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:04 amGood to meet you. See you in the mountains.
powhounddd
wrote on March 21st, 2010 at 8:20 pmImpressive lines and great pics as always. The bald eagle bit made me laugh out loud, because that’s a running joke with the kids, Look there’s an eagle! Works like a charm.
I appreciate the disclaimer at the bottom. If you run into a bearded splitboarder who’s slowly plodding along behind in the skintrack, say hi. ;)
Chris
wrote on March 21st, 2010 at 10:20 pmLooks like a fun day, nice work….
The Author’s Note was a good addition.
Porter Haney
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 12:13 amClassic ice visor.
Will this cooler ever run out of beer?!?!
Jack
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 8:57 amNice. How long was the hike from the parking lot?
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:01 amhey jack i actually made a mistake in my calculations originally. I fixed it now.. should have been (and now appears in the TR as) (60/(25)1/2)1/2 times 2 divided by the square root of 3 miles
took us about 2 hours…
Adrian
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 11:08 amWow, Katahdin’s lookin sweet these days! Hope it stays around for another few weeks so that I can get a chance at it this season.
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 amhave faith. pour a libation to ULLR
Anonymous
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 5:29 pmthey must have paved the parking lot since i was there in september…
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 6:58 pmI think we were in a different lot than you.
christian
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 7:15 pmjealous!!!! katahdin looks super rad, i gotta get up there one of these days. you can thank me for the weather though since i was down at wachusett all weekend fighting the crowds.
NordSki
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:11 pmThose are fun lines over there on abe’s buddy. But I don’t see the point in hyping one sacred spot to keep another one quiet. Let the pictures speak for themselves. Watch out for that ice axe strapped close to the head, too, if you were to go head over heals. I would strap it to outside of pack securely, and consider a shorter axe for ski climbing.
skimohr
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:24 pmGood thoughts… Ice axes can be super dangerous on the pack. I had one dig into the back of my neck pretty bad once. The shorter, titanium axes are where it’s at for non-technical (unroped) ski mountaineering. Longer axes are nice, though, for anchors and rope work.
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:26 pmThanks for the tips. We always stow our “pointy stuff” carefully. As to one hype vs. another: I’m just trying to have some fun. Look at elevations for “the Buddy” and “the Katahdin.” Kinda spooky, huh? What’s more is “the Buddy” is just estimated… might be = ! Anyway, I don’t think any hoards are going to the REAL Katahdin which is guarded by a 13 mile approach any time soon because of this TR…
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:34 pmBrian’s got it right… we both carry 50cm axes. Mine is the superlight Camp titanium mtn axe–perfect for ski mountaineering. KC has the more traditional BD Raven, but I think she’ll be upgrading to the Raven pro soon.
skimohr
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:19 pmCool pics. That’s a great zone over there. You might have seen us there that day had the nice lady at the grocery store in Millinocket not pointed out that we had been looking at our map upside down. Thanks for sharing…
-Brian
Greg
wrote on March 22nd, 2010 at 10:35 pmI lost cell phone service somewhere crossing the barren waste land of NH, and without google earth on my iPhone we were lost instantly. Just glad to be back safely ;)
jumpin jimmy
wrote on March 23rd, 2010 at 6:31 amWas up there last summer chasing moose on South twin lake–cool peaks! Not only are the pictures amazing, but the writing just keeps getting better and better. Love the humor angle! Keep at em.
Greg
wrote on March 23rd, 2010 at 10:24 pmthanks JJ. we’re doing our best
StuckinJersey
wrote on March 25th, 2010 at 4:00 pmSo how do I get to that parking lot? haha Man you cats busted some sweet turns up there. I have slid Katahdin before but it was end of January with 2 feet of fresh, so we stayed on more lower angle stuff. Next year I’m heading up for some spring time turns. Glad you two got the goods. Thanks for the stoke.
Greg
wrote on March 25th, 2010 at 11:26 pmjust turn right and then turn left and then right again… you’re there!
Micky O
wrote on March 28th, 2010 at 9:34 pmAwesome TR, cool Author’s note at the end too haha
Not-a-snob
wrote on January 26th, 2011 at 10:51 amdon’t look now but there’s a video of 2 chubby rednecks skiing this line on youtube for all to see…….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2BLihn6myA
Greg
wrote on January 26th, 2011 at 6:22 pmcool vid!