Greetings, all. This is Matt, your peak co-coordinator. This is my fourth year doing FOT48 and third as an official coordinator. My first year, in 2019, I met Patrick (nhmuzikman) and we found ourselves scrambling a bit due to a last-minute coordinator cancellation, and vowed to do this event as co-coordinators every year we are able to going forward. Patrick and I have both completed the 48, and are now guiding our family through it, me with my 7-year-old daughter, Emeline, and him with his grandson, Cam.
Emeline and Cam each have several 4Ks under their belt, but given their relative youth, we will be starting rather early for our hike up to South Kinsman. Our plan is to meet at 6:30 am on Sunday in the lot for the Mount Kinsman Trailhead off Route 116 (Easton Valley Road) and approach from the West side. This is the more gradual route to the peak, and the distance to the summit is 5 miles. (We will pass over the summit of North Kinsman during the hike there.) Book time for this hike is 4:20, so we have built in plenty of time for breaks as well as to get the flag set up in time to be flying no later than noon.
In terms of the rigging, I have a pole made of PVC pipe that telescopes to about 13 feet, along with a 3×5 flag, that can be secured by paracord guylines. The gear is relatively simple to haul, the hardest part of which is the pipe itself, which collapses to just over 5 feet and is connected to a strap to wear it over your shoulder. Aside from passing this around to give each other a break, the need for assistance carrying the gear should be pretty light.
If people would rather go another route or want to start later, you are more than welcome to meet us at the summit, but we are looking forward to meeting new people, so would love to have as many people as possible join us at 6:30 or so in the parking lot.
Looking forward to meeting all of you!
