Route: Vermont 4000ers (VT)

Location
Vermont, US
Distance
118.6 mi
Description

There are 5 peaks in Vermont over 4000 feet: Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, Mount Abraham, Mount Ellen, and Killington Peak. They are all easily accessible from roads.  We have 2 variations:  "just the peaks" (i.e., driving between the THs), and "peaks & connections" (including human powered travel between the THs).  Our map shows Peter Howe's track connecting all the peaks by bike.

Note that for "just the peaks" the standard seems to be to start the clock at the first TH (Killington) and stop at the final summit.

GPS Track

Comments

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On 9/21/2020 (this Monday), I will go for the self-supported, peaks and connections route. My plan is to start early at Killingtons base and end at sunset on top of Mansfield.

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I ran the Vermont 4000-footers (just the peaks) self-supported in 9:25:47 today. I started at 7:15 a.m. at the Bucklin trailhead and finished at 4:41 p.m. on the summit of Ellen. Full details tomorrow when I have computer access. Great day to be out in the mountains!

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If anyone else gives this a try I thought I would add a couple clarifying notes:

-For the “just the peaks” variation I think we should exclude the base of the K1 gondola as the starting point for Killington, as it’s just too high to be in the spirit of this challenge. (No one has done this yet, but I could see someone thinking it was fine to try.) Obviously, I would exclude the Mansfield auto road for the same reason, although it’s fun to think about whether using the auto road is actually worth it from a time-saving perspective.

​​​​​​-The Long Trail in Smuggler’s Notch (at the base of the Mansfield climb) has been relocated as of 2017. I noticed that Katlin’s recent (awesome!) effort followed the old routing of the LT. This doesn’t make much of a difference time-wise and was probably accidental (many maps still show the old route), but as a Green Mountain Club employee I ought to encourage everyone to stick to currently maintained trails. I’m definitely not calling for a flag or DQ, just something to keep in mind going forward!

Hey Nigel! Awesome work and thanks for the details! Can you specify the trails did you used? A friend and I attempted this last weekend but we did start at the K1 lodge for Killington. We also hit Killington last as it seemed the most logical way to do the drives, but curious as to your driving route too. Definitely want to give this another (more official!) shot. Last question; was this your moving time or total time? Thanks!!

Hey just seeing this sorry! Seems like a lot of people are using ski trails for Killington which is definitely the faster way to do it. I still think starting on Killington and ending on Ellen is fastest, but my time got beat by going south to north from Killington to Mansfield, so maybe not!

Time is total time (including drives) from the first trailhead to the final summit. Good luck!

completed the supported peaks abs connections friday the 23rd of july 2021 in 13hrs 48min. hell of a fun day.

Just finished the peaks and connections self supported in 13:37, starting at the Killington parking lot and ending at the Stowe parking lot. More to come in an official report soon.

Headed out tomorrow early for self supported attempt. 

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On Saturday, October 28, I will be attempting the Vermont 4000 footers with connections fkt. 

I will be completing it Unsupported, which there is currently no fkt on. I plan to go under the current best time by Matt Cymanski of 13h27m.

Matt completed the route ending at the last Trailhead instead of Summit, so I will complete it in the same fashion, starting at Killington and ending at Mansfield. I don’t have any device that allows tracking DURING the attempt, but I will have it ask recorded on my watch. Planning to start at 6am at the base of K ski area.

6a: start Killington run

9:20a: start Sugarbush run

1:30p: start camels Hump run

4:50-5p: start Mansfield run

 ET total ~12h 30m
 feel free to say hi at any of the climbs!

I'll post all the details in a minute:
Saturday I set the Unsupported FKT for the route in 11 hours 56 minutes.