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May/June, 2005
Big Mountain Dreams
A Katahdin Triple Play
By Jon Tierney
It’s 4:00 a.m. and we are listening to Green Day on the radio- something about "gotta climb that mountain." This early in the morning and you see what people are made of. Ahead a cheesy sleeping bag hides the sights and sounds of a veteran hiker. Behind us a group of must be first timers chatter away about the route, the weather, and the time. So serious! Maybe we should jump up and join the group of students playing hacky sacks by the lake. No, just kick the seat back and catch a few more zzzz’s. Only ninety minutes to go.
At the appointed hour the gate opens, engines start and the line creeps slowly forward. Anxiety is high - will there be too many cars in front of us for us to be let into the Roaring Brook parking lot or will we make it? Agonizing up the hill the trees pass all too slowly as the gatehouse comes into view. The attendant asks "what are you doing today?" Climbing the Armadillo we chime simultaneously! Oh, be sure to check in with the rangers at Roaring Brook and Chimney Pond. Whew!
Quick congratulatory efforts are in order. Success! We made it past the gate, the first crux of any climb on Katadhin, and are on our way to Roaring Brook,! Now we can relax - it’s time for the real deal.
It’s mid summer in Baxter State Park and we are on our way to climb some of the best alpine climbs New England has to offer. Four summers of climbing out west have left us longing for something a little bigger. Not better, just bigger. So today, we will try to session three of the most popular technical climbing routes on the mountain - the Flatiron, (5.9), the Armadillo Buttress (5.8) and Pamola Four (5.6). All of these routes are visible from Chimney Pond and each leads from Chimney Pond to a different part of the Knife Edge. To our knowledge no one has climbed all three of these in a day and many parties take a full day to complete just one. Leaving Roaring Brook with dozens of other hikers we labor the 2500’ (check vertical distance) over 3 miles to Chimney Pond. About halfway I always wonder how can three miles be so far? I measure each mile against the distance to my high school girl friend’s house - one mile on the money so only three trips and I will be there. Swat, got another one. Oh yeah, forgot about the mosquitos and black flies that seem to persist all summer. Now another one of the mountain’s guardians blocks the path, this time a moose. We stand and watch each other. Then, passing another test, we are granted passage as the moose wanders off to toward Basin Pond. Greeting the moose face to face just adds to the adventure.
Finally, it comes into view - our objective. The direct line from Chimney Pond to the top of Maine. From this angle, it doesn’t look too bad. Up over this little step, hike up the slabs, climbing the cracks and follow the ridges to the Knife Edge. Soon we will know.
Arrival at Chimney Pond brings us to our third crux, passing muster with the ranger. Fortunately, the ranger knows us and gives us the blessing relatively easily although he pronounces us insane to attempt more than one route today.
Stepping gingerly from rock to rock around Chimney Pond we follow a faint climber’s trail along the stream to its headwater at the back of the ravine. Roping up here, some easy climbing takes us over the first step. Pull a bulge and then build a belay in the insecure pile of loose rock above. "Don’t fall!", I hear from above. "Oh, great," I exclaim.
Wet slabs or wet brush? I guess we’ll take the slabs - at least we will stay drier. Moving right we arrive at the base of a triangular shaped steep face - the Flatiron. Pierced by a perfect splitter crack, the Flatiron seems out of place in this jumble of loose rock. We descend slightly wanting to start at the true base. Straightforward climbing and we quickly dispatch the 5.9 crux. Gotta keep the rope moving.
To the summit and the first lap is down. Okay, we go down our ascent route to the top of the Flatiron where we hope a single rappel will get us back to the ground. It doesn’t and we are forced into doing a manky rappel off a knotted rope sling midway down the face or finding another way down. Years of mountain experience tell us the jammed knots will hold. Yet we transfer our weight gingerly onto the rope. It’s 11:30 a.m.
Across the skinny ledges to the base of a 200’ finger shaped mass of rock that someone once thought resembled the tail of an Armadillo. Today we will take the easier right side up the Armadillo Flake. The route passes many old pitons reminding us of the elusive but ever present history of climbing on Katahdin. After all, climbers made some of the earliest technical ascents in New England in the early and mid 1900s on Katahdin. We decide to tunnel behind the flake to the left side of the Armadillo’s Tail. The pack drags heavily against the rock as I half crack climb, half face climb and half stem the left side. Wait that math doesn’t add up? Perched atop the Armadillo, one can’t help but feel psyched on the world. The best pitch is coming up - a slightly bigger than fist crack that narrows to fingers and face climbing before reaching the sharply defined summit ridge leading to Katahdin’s south summit.
On the ridge we unrope and sprint toward the summit, our confidence is high - it’s 1:30 and two thirds of our objective is complete. From the south peak we turn left and head across the famed Knife Edge. Hikers approach but on this day we don’t stop for much conversation. Between hikers, we run as fast as our lungs allow, being sure to go by the next hiker slowly enough not to cause a stir and a flurry of questions.
We wait impatiently atop Chimney Peak for hikers to clear the steep descent into the deep notch between Chimney and Pamola Peaks. At the notch we turn down into the loose, scree filled gully known as the Chimney trying to make up time. Hikers follow and we yell back that this is definitely not the trail unless they have a rope. Sometimes it’s hard to share the mountain.
Near the bottom an 80’ rappel lands us in dripping water. Okay, maybe we can refill our water bottle and suck up some more moisture. The traverse line into the fourth ridge of Pamola that we scouted on the way up turns into a spruce and fir bash from hell. And all the ridges look the same from this close. Did we miss something? Shortly, but not soon enough, we reach a recognizable corner marking the bottom of Pamola Four.
This route, although technically easier, offers more continuous climbing and route finding challenges than its neighbors. There are many ways to go and the most important one is up. A sweet little corner system and random cracks lead us into some broken segments. Above, the ridge flattens for a bit. Crossing to the right we snake through a small slot and continue our way toward the top cresting Pamola’s summit at about 5:30 p.m. and well before sunset. Our triple play session is complete. And in plenty of time to get down to Roaring Brook by dark... maybe we should go for fou
r?
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