Black Mountain: 07/26/2014

It almost seemed like cheating. Climbing Black Mountain from the east got us to Lake George's highest summit with only half the vertical that an "honest" climb from the lake shore entails. But when you're hiking with kids, there's no such thing as points for style - a hike's a hike, a summit's a summit.

Hackensack Mtn: 07/19/2014

Saturday morning the kids and I had a window of a couple hours to fit in a hike. Hackensack Mountain in Warrensburg fit the bill perfectly. Even though the summit is lower than many High Peaks trailheads (just 1,357'), Hackensack's got a lot to offer: an interesting trail network, easy access, and a great view from the summit.

Adirondack ski areas by the numbers: Gore energy efficiency

Some readers know that while I'm a skier in "real" life, I'm an accountant in my "other" life. I guess that makes me something of a numbers nerd, and explains why the page below, from ORDA's recently released 2013-14 annual report, caught my eye.

(click the picture to enlarge)

If the image is too small to read easily, here's the data from the chart:

	2012/2013	2013/2014	change
Lift days*	1071	1209	+13%
Gallons of water pumped	270 million	305 million	+13%
KWH consumed	13,646,411	13,539,776	-106,635
Total revenue	$8,956,910	$9,646,160	+7.7%

*One lift day is the equivalent of running one lift for one day. For example,one ski day with 10 lifts in operation is equal to 10 lift days.

Vanderwhacker Mountain: 07/05/2014

Vanderwhacker Mountain feels remote before you even get out of the car. Located midway between Minerva and Newcomb along Route 28N, the trailhead lies at the end of a single lane dirt road that penetrates three miles into the Vanderwhacker Wild Forest.

Vanderwhacker's fire tower

From the trailhead, it’s less than 3 miles to Vanderwhacker’s 3,385’ summit. The short distance served us well on Saturday, since we had a crack-of-noon start (2pm actually). I had spent the morning trying to convince family members to go hiking, but in the end it was just Beth and me. Our kids elected to stay behind in Bolton Landing with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles for an afternoon of waterskiing and lake activity. A good rule of thumb is to never “force” kids to hike (or ski), and I can hardly blame them for choosing lake fun over hiking.

OK Slip Falls, hike in - raft out: 06/28/2014

OK Slip Falls has been at the top of my hiking to-do list ever since it opened up for public access late last year. This spring, when I found out that Square Eddy Expeditions would be offering guided hike in – raft out trips, I dropped some not-so-subtle Fathers’ Day gift hints. Lucky for me the hints worked, and we coordinated a date for Beth, Daniel and me to do the trip (Sylvie’s too young for the rafting part of the trip).

Now, I’m not the kind of guy who hires a guide at the drop of a hat. I’ve hiked, skied, climbed and paddled all over the Adirondacks for the past 30+ years. I don't need someone to show me the way around the woods. But this is the kind of trip you can’t pull off on your own unless you’ve got a river raft, a way to get your raft halfway down the Hudson Gorge to OK Slip Brook, and the experience to safely paddle the remaining 6 miles through class 3 and 4 rapids to North River (my whitewater skills are zero). On top of that, I’ve known Square Eddy owners Lori Phoebe Benton and Linc Marsac for years, so being able to do the trip with good friends as our guides sealed the deal.