Trapdike Winter

On December 20, 2014, 2 friends and I did the trapdike on Mt Colden in the Adirondacks. Technically it wasn't winter yet, but for my purposes it was close enough.

The Trapdike is a gully in the side of Mt. Colden. Getting up the Dike in the summer is fun rock scramble with one or two tricky and potentially dangerous parts, especially around the highest waterfall. At some point near the top of the Dike you transition onto a rock slab climb. Generally the rock slab isn't too difficult, unless you exit the Trapdike too early (or if the slab is wet, of course). In the winter, conditions determine the type of climb that you will find.

The Adirondacks received a lot of snow this past December, so on December 20 the Trapdike was much more of a snow climb than an ice climb. In fact, at several points I was swinging my ice tools through a few inches of snow and into rock. And on the slab we found ourselves similarly having nothing under the snow to stick our crampons into.

Because of all snow, the gully part of the climb was easy at first. The thing about the Trapdike is that there is a lot of exposure, and not much to stop you if you fall. So while each individual move isn't too difficult, as you climb up the Dike you become more and more exposed, and the danger if you were to fall increases. The 3 of us roped up together with a 60-meter rope, and Josh put in a few anchors and ice screws at the most tricky and exposed points. All 3 of us used 2 ice tools, although for much of the climb I gripped onto the top and used the handle like a mountaineering ice ax.

Once we got up to the final waterfall you could see that there was a lot more ice and the climbing was steeper. We decided to belay each other on this one pitch, for which we needed the full 60-meters of rope. Josh has by far the most experience ice climbing, so he led the pitch. Jacquie and I followed.

We then moved straight forward, moving as far up the gully as we could to avoid the steeper slab sections.

When we finally reached trees at the top of the gully, there was a clear slab to the right. You can see in the google maps satellite exactly where we went.

The slab itself was a bit difficult because there wasn't hardly any ice below the snow to dig your crampons into. There was a few inches of snow, but often it felt like we were walking on rock with crampons. And because of the nature of the slab, there is a lot of exposure and nothing to stop you from sliding down if you fell. We kept to the far right where there was more snow and better traction.

Near the top the slab gets steeper still, so we decided to move right into the trees for the final few hundred feet.

All photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/105255038742920626162/albums/6096277890409813729

GPS tracks attached below.