Vermont’s Mountains: A 35ers Project

This is a Peak Bagging project I decided to work on while I’m in my home state of Vermont at the moment.  It’s also a great project to help keep me on track for my 2022 goal of climbing 200 New Peaks in the calendar year. Been fun exploring my home mountains thus far!

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What is it?

The nitty gritty to this peak bagging goal is to reach the summits of each peak in Vermont that is ranked at 3,500’ in elevation or greater.  According to Peakbagger.com there are 29 such peaks, as well as several unranked peaks of that elevation or greater.  When I decided to make this a goal I had already climbed Vermont’s six 4,000’ peaks, which includes the state’s high point, Mount Mansfield (4,393’).

Why do it?

Of course my instinct is to smartly respond, “Why not!?”  But yes, the true answer runs deeper.  I love outdoor pursuits that challenge me and take me to places I’ve never been, especially when it comes to mountains.  It also coincides with my 200 Peaks in a Year goal.  This project is helping give direction to my much larger goal, and is helping me get out an explore my backyard wilderness.

What challenges does this project bring?

Hiking these peaks in prime summer conditions is not necessarily an easy task.  With roots, rocks, vegetation, off trail navigation, and not to mention the mosquitos, it can be a challenge to gain these summits in summer.  I’ve been working on many of these peaks in winter conditions.  In fact, so far I’ve climbed 11 out of 29 in winter months.  

Winter brings on a whole other set of challenges.  There’s obviously the cold temperatures, which can be made exponentially worse by the wind, sometimes producing well below zero wind chills! Then there are the trails buried under sometimes feet of snow.  Many times the trails, if there are any, have not been traveled in winter, so I have found myself breaking trail in either snowshoes or on skis.

Spring and Fall conditions can be terribly wet and muddy. This presents challenges both in navigating through it, and in the sense of trail preservation and erosion concerns.

What You’ll Find Amongst the High Peaks of Vermont:

What you might find mostly depends on the season.  Vermont enjoys the classic four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  It also experiences what some call Mud Season and Stick Season.  Mud season is generally considered the time when winter is ending, spring is beginning, and summer hasn’t quite arrived. Stick season arrives after the beautiful Fall colors have left and the trees are bare, yet snow hasn’t arrived.

A good bunch of these peaks are occupied by Vermont’s famous ski areas.  You may also find old Fire Towers amongst these high points, including Stratton Mountain which I climbed this past November.  There’s a chance many of you have heard of some major Vermont ski areas such as Killington, Stowe, and Jay Peak.  All of these plus others are built on Vermont peaks of 3,500’ in elevation or greater. 

Many of these highest peaks are found along Vermont’s Long Trail.  The Long Trail runs north to south along the spine of the green mountains.  It is the country’s first long distance hiking trail, and was an inspiration for the longer and more famous, Appalachian Trail.

Current Status:

As of this initial Posting (3/7/2022), I have succesffully reached the summits of 17 out of the 29 peaks.  Like I mentioned earlier 11 of those 17 have been winter summits.  I have now climbed Vermont’s 8 highest peaks, the next highest being Jay Peak in Northern Vermont, which I have attempted (got shut down before even arriving as the snow conditions on the road were so bad I had to slowly back down the hill while trying not to end up in a ditch). 

My Favorites:

For me nothing beats the beauty of being up in the high alpine of Vermont’s highest peaks in winter.  Both Mount Mansfield and camels hump are quite stunning on a winters day.  If you’re lucky enough to get even some semi clear weather, the surroundings are quite stunning.  Wind blown rime ice coats everything: the rock, the short alpine vegetation, and the trail signs.  Therefore, it truly is another world up there in winter.

Master list: