[at-l] Trip Report Maine, Part 2; Summiting Katahdin

[ellen at clinic.net (ellen)]

A wonderful account and great photos. But the Knife Edge appears worse in pictures than it is in fact. To my knowledge no one has ever fallen off the side of the "knife." The injuries occur mostly by falling while climbing in and out of the gut between Pamola and the top of the "Chimney."

Hikers doing the Knife Edge in that area fall backwards or forwards while climbing, not to one side or the other. Climbing down Pamola while heading toward Katahdin is like climbing down a ladder facing out. The safe solution is to turn around and face the rocks. There are plenty of hand and foot holds if one is facing in a direction to use them.

None of this means that the Knife Edge isn't scary. There are thousand foot drops in places. It's just that one would have to really work to fall down them. The worse place has a two-foot level treadway (well at least 16 inches anyway) and a rock wall on one side to hold on to. :-)

Weary

> ------------Original Message------------
> From: Jan Leitschuh <janl2@mindspring.com>
> To: papabear.nyc@verizon.net, "AT-List" <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Date: Thu, Sep-23-2004 6:54 PM
> Subject: [at-l] Trip Report Maine, Part 2; Summiting Katahdin
> 
> > In on or two places there were what you might call "O my God!" spots, 
> where you had to scramble along the side of or over the top of a ledge 
> with daylight below you on one side or the other.  But it is as much a 
> mental effort as a physical one, and at one of these places I would 
> stop, breathe deeply, relax and say, this is just a ridge a few feet off 
> the ground.  Just put one foot (and one hand) in front of the other and 
> it will be easy.
> > 
> > Rough and rocky: 
> http://gallery.backcountry.net/albums/papabear_2004_Katahdin/aej.sized.jpg
> > An "O my God!" spot: 
> http://gallery.backcountry.net/albums/papabear_2004_Katahdin/ael.sized.jpg
> > Don't look down: 
> http://gallery.backcountry.net/albums/papabear_2004_Katahdin/aek.sized.jpg
> > 
> > At last we got to the Chimney, a deep chasm separating Chimney peak 
> from Pamola.  From a distance it looked like there was no way to cross 
> that gap without climbing equipment, but in this case it was not as bad 
> as it looked.  A simple scramble down some ledges on one side and up on 
> the other side did the trick.  Hint: it helps to have long legs for 
> this bit, and follow the blue blazes carefully.
> 
> Awesome pictures, Papa Bear. You had a fantastic day to summit.
> I especially appreciated the Knife Edge report, and pictures from The 
> Edge.
> One day it will be mine.
> TeeteryShoe
> 
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