Giant Mountain, 06/03/2017

It's been a tough spring if you're a hiker, but we finally got out the first weekend in June. Daniel, our 13-year-old son, has been interested in hiking some of the High Peaks (both our kids have dozens of "low" peaks under their belts), and we settled on Giant for his #3 (he's already got Cascade and Porter).

Dix Mountain: 08/22/2016

Back in 1987 when I finished my first round of the 46, there were a handful of peaks I swore I’d never repeat. If you’ve climbed Blake, Couchie or Cliff, you know what I’m talking about. Sooner or later though, I’d get dragged out by one hiking partner or another and notch second and third visits to those “never again” peaks. At the other end of the list are the favorites, the ones you return to over and over, even if it’s a decade between visits. Dix is on that list, 6th highest in the Adirondacks and offering some of the best and most interesting views of the 46. A recent two night stay at Elk Lake Lodge provided the perfect opportunity to climb Dix again.

Cascade Mountain, Lucky 7 Slide: 10/26/2015

If you’ve ever hiked a High Peak, odds are it’s Cascade. Being the easiest and most accessible of the 46, Cascade gets climbed far more frequently than any other 4000-footer. While the summit offers great views, you don’t hike Cascade for solitude or wildness. But thanks to Hurricane Irene in 2011, a new slide provides an alternate route for more adventurous, experienced climbers.

Whiteface Mtn uphill footrace: 09/13/2014

There’s not much that I haven’t already said about the Whiteface Mountain Uphill Footrace (2013, 2012), except that if there’s a race that I have to run each year, this is it. Because it’s New York’s fifth highest peak, because of its Olympic heritage and skiing history, because of the pure challenge of running 3600 vertical feet uphill in 8 miles.

Two runners crossing the finish line just below Whiteface's summit

Whiteface Mtn Uphill Footrace: 09/14/2013

Cool temperatures and a touch of early autumn color made for another memorable Whiteface Mountain Uphill Foot Race on Saturday, with around a hundred runners lining up for the start. As usual, conditions varied widely between the starting line (upper 40s, calm, broken clouds) and the finish (upper 30s, gusty, fog, clouds), adding to the challenge of the 8-mile, 3500’ vertical climb to the summit.

Runners lined up at the start...

To me, the hardest part of the race is covering the first three miles. It’s a public road with traffic, houses, power lines. It’s where you find your pace and confront the reality that you’ve got an unforgiving, unrelenting, hour-plus climb ahead of you. By the time you get to the tollhouse at the 3-mile mark, you’ve settled into a pace, the woods close in and it’s just you and the mountain for the rest of the race.

...and crossing the finish line in the Whiteface Mountain Uphill Footrace

Pitchoff Mtn. Balanced Rocks: 05/27/2013

We’ve all heard the clichés about the unpredictability of Adirondack weather, but the Nor’Easter that deposited up to 3 feet of snow on the higher elevations of Whiteface, Marcy and the rest of the High Peaks over Memorial Day weekend is one for the record books. We had planned to be in Lake Placid for the Adirondack 46ers annual dinner and award ceremony Sunday evening and to hike with the kids on Monday. Our timing couldn’t have been better: by late Sunday afternoon the storm cleared, yielding spectacular views of white peaks, green valleys and blue skies.

Snow-capped Cascade Mountain rises above Upper Cascade Lake

I had Pitchoff’s Balanced Rocks overlook on my short list of possible hikes. At just over 3 miles round-trip with 900 vertical feet of climbing, it’s well within our kids’ ability range. The Balanced Rocks sit at around 3000’ elevation, high enough that we’d encounter some snow (bonus!) but low enough that it shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Gothics Mountain, cable route: 02/23/2013

Spectacular in any season, the High Peaks of the Adirondacks may be at their best in winter. No bugs or mud, fewer hikers, and the trails are smoothed out under a (hopefully) deep snow pack. But to me, the real appeal of winter climbing is the chance to experience the harsh conditions that are a reminder that this is a place where nature calls the shots and man is just a visitor. We got a nice taste of that climbing Gothics on Saturday.

Skiing Mount Marcy circa 1986

When I first took up cross-country skiing nearly 30 years ago, in the early 1980s, it was on wooden skis (Edsbyns) that I bought new at Morsan’s Sporting Goods (now Campmor) in Paramus, New Jersey. Around that same time I became an avid hiker and an aspiring 46er. The natural intersection of those interests led me to try my skills – such as they were - on ski tours like Avalanche Pass, the Whiteface Toll Road and Mount Marcy.

Whiteface Mtn Uphill Footrace: 09/22/2012

The Whiteface Mountain Uphill Footrace might correctly be called a "niche" race, but as a skier, hiker, 46er and runner, it falls exactly in the niche that appeals to me. At 4,867 feet, Whiteface is the fifth highest peak in New York, and it is the only High Peak accessible by automobile, via the 5-mile long Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway. Whiteface’s commanding position apart from the rest of the High Peaks, its ski area and Olympic heritage, its auto road, castle and summit observatory all contribute to a status that rivals Mount Marcy as the Adirondacks’ most significant peak. “This is a sacred place in the State of New York,” said North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi on Friday, during a meeting of state and local officials to discuss needed repairs to the highway. Thousands of bicyclists, runners and skiers (on snow and dry pavement) who have made human-powered ascents of Whiteface via the highway will no doubt agree with that assessment.

Skylight, Gray, Marcy and a 46er finish Saratoga-style: 07/19/2012

On Thursday, Beth and I hiked her final peaks for the Adirondack 46: Gray and Skylight. Lots of 46ers celebrate their final peak with a sign or a banner, celebratory beverage, maybe even a cake at the summit. Beth took things a step further, celebrating in her Saratoga track dress (the track opened on Friday) with champagne on the summit of Skylight.

We opted to do the hike as a loop from Adirondack Loj, climbing via Lake Arnold and Feldspar Brook to Lake Tear of the Clouds, source of the Hudson River. From Lake Tear, both Gray and Skylight are short out-and-back climbs. Rather than re-trace our steps, we climbed up and over Mount Marcy, returning to the Loj via the Van Hoevenberg trail. This loop covers some of the most spectacular alpine terrain in the Adirondacks, a fitting final hike.

Haystack, Basin and the last snow on Marcy? 05/27/2012

Mount Marcy and its snow bowl, viewed from Haystack's summit

My wife Beth and I have a deal: when there’s an opportunity for her to get another peak towards her 46, she gets to hike. On Sunday Beth teamed up with three of the women she hiked with last summer to tackle Haystack Mountain in the upper Great Range. Haystack is often cited as having the best view of all the High Peaks, not only for its close-up perspective on surrounding peaks like Marcy and Gothics, but also for its feeling of all-encompassing wilderness. As a bonus, the view on Sunday included what may be winter’s last remaining snow in the Adirondacks.

“Grossly" unprepared lost hikers should be fined

Yes, there’s a pun in the title, but the subject is serious.

Last Thursday, May 3, a group of 5 hikers became lost in the High Peaks. When they were reported missing at 11pm, state police and DEC officers launched an overnight search. The missing hikers were found by rescuers around 10am the next morning, after they spent a cold, wet night outdoors. According to published reports, the hikers were grossly unprepared. They lacked essential hiking gear like a map and compass. Their "plan" had been to hike from the Upper Works trailhead to the Ausable Lakes and back – an illogical route of at least 30 miles. As if to underscore their lack of preparedness, they informed DEC officers that they had urinated on each other to keep warm overnight. That gives something of a new meaning to the phrase “grossly” unprepared, doesn’t it?

Inside The Blue Line

I have a lot of friends who are hikers and even 46ers, but Bob Marcellus is in a different category altogether. A self-described “hiking machine,” Bob has polished off three rounds of the 46 in the last 5 years. Bob’s latest project is a self-published book, Inside The Blue Line, in which he shares 156 of the images he’s captured while hiking in the High Peaks and elsewhere in the Adirondacks.

Jeff: I’ve known you as a telemark skier for more than 20 years, Bob. When did you get into hiking?

Bob: I first hiked in the Adirondacks as a kid with my Dad, and his stories of climbing the Trap Dike in the 1950s have stayed with me ever since those first early hikes. As an adult, my choices took me in other directions, such as skiing and cycling, and hiking trips to the mountains were few and far between. The spark was re-ignited during the winter of 2007. A friend had climbed Cascade, and told me she was thinking about doing some more peaks solo. I told her I didn’t think hiking alone was a good idea, and offered to go with her.

Street & Nye Mountains: 11/12/2011

View of snow-dusted Street & Nye Mountains from Heart Lake

It's probably fair to say that Street and Nye aren't climbed by anyone but aspiring 46ers. There's no maintained trail, and both peaks have wooded, viewless summits. Nye isn't even a "real" 46er: its summit is now listed at just 3895'. But a beautiful, crisp pre-winter day not only made the hike interesting, it gave us some great unexpected views to boot.

Pre-dawn departure from Bolton Landing

Hiking at this time of year poses some real difficulties: shortened daylight hours, cold temperatures, trails that are often more ice than snow. With those challenges in mind, Beth and I had been holding Street and Nye as a late fall hiking option since its relatively short distance (just 8 miles round trip) made it easily doable in a short day.

Cliff Mountain: 08/11/2011

We had a bit of a backlog of trip reports to clear, but the following is a short fifth report in a series on women hiking the High Peaks. To keep things moving, I agreed to write this report, even though I wasn't along for the hike. -Jeff

Marcy at the Lake Colden outlet dam

The original plan for this trip was to climb both Cliff and Redfield in a day, since both peaks use the same approach. Four hikers (Beth, Marcy, Judy and Judy's friend) met early at the Upper Works trailhead to begin the long hike via Flowed Lands and Lake Colden to the Uphill Brook lean-to, located just below the start of the herd paths to Cliff and Redfield at around 3200’ elevation.

DEC to reopen some High Peaks trails

Phil Brown is reporting in his Adirondack Outtakes blog this evening that DEC will reopen many of the trails closed following Hurricane Irene tomorrow. Important highlights include:

• All trails from the Adirondack Loj trailhead, Garden trailhead, and Cascade Mountain Trailhead, among others, will reopen.
• All trails accessed from the Adirondack Mountain Reserve trailhead remain closed.
• All trails in the Dix Mountain Wilderness area and the Elk Lake trailhead remain closed.
• The Roaring Brook and Ridge trails in the Giant Mountain Wilderness area remain closed due to the continued closure of a section of Route 73.

Note that the above list is not comprehensive, please refer to the DEC advisory published in Phil's blog and linked above for specific openings and closures. The DEC's High Peaks Trail Information web page will also be updated as trails are reopened.

Colvin and Blake Mtns: 08/27/2011

It’s always a treat to hike through the Ausable Club / Adirondack Mountain Reserve lands in Keene Valley. Although there are restrictions prohibiting camping, swimming, off-trail travel and dogs (sometimes overzealously enforced), and parking is more than a half mile from the trailhead, the benefits are worth the trade-off: easy access to the interior via the Lake Road, and well-maintained trails through some of the most beautiful old-growth forest in all of the High Peaks.

When Beth and I left home Saturday morning, we had intended to hike Nippletop, but kept open the option of hiking Colvin and Blake instead. The approach is the same, with the trail splitting at about the 5-mile mark in Elk Pass: Nippletop to the left, Colvin and Blake to the right.

New slides in the eastern High Peaks

Without a doubt, any of us would reverse the course of events that devastated New York and elsewhere on Sunday if only we could. The losses and pain inflicted by Irene are real, significant and widespread, and nothing can detract from that devastation.

However, Irene is also the most dramatic and stunning example of the dynamic nature of the Adirondack environment in our lifetime. Literally overnight, dozens of new slides have been created in the eastern High Peaks region, dramatically altering the landscape.

Earlier this evening, John Warren reported on Drew Haas' overflight of the High Peaks region in Adirondack Almanack, with additional images on Drew's Adirondack Backcountry Skiing blog. Both posts, linked above, are sure to be of interest to readers here.

Photo: Trap Dike on Mount Colden. Courtesy of Drew Haas, Adirondack Backcountry Skiing

High Peaks trails closed following Irene

With so much bad news about Irene's devastation in places like the Catskills, Schoharie valley and Vermont, not much news has filtered into the Saratoga / Capital District about the heartbreaking damage in the North Country. I'm re-posting a handful of links that summarize some of Irene's impact in the Adirondacks:

• Trails closed by DEC in eastern High Peaks and adjoining wilderness areas
• Adirondack backcountry damage reports
• Essex county communities of Keene, Jay, Ausable Forks devastated

Beth and I were hiking in the eastern High Peaks region (Colvin and Blake) on Saturday, the day before Irene, and our hearts go out to all those who have been impacted by the storm in the Adirondacks, in New York, and beyond.

Santanoni "Express" Circuit: 08/03/2011

Following is the fourth post in a series about women hiking the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. An early start and use of the "new" Santanoni Express route allowed Beth, Marcy and Judy to complete a circuit of the rugged, trailless Santanoni Range in a 12-hour day.

Posted by: Beth Gelber

Following our Dix Range traverse last month, three of us planned an attempt at the three peaks of the Santanoni range. For Judy, with just 6 peaks to go towards finishing her 46, the Santanonis represented half of her remaining peaks. For Marcy and me, it was a chance to knock off another challenging group of trailless peaks.