2010 Trip Reports

After what seemed to be an easy short hike we reached the summit of Seward at 2:15 p.m. The views were nonexistent, but we were both very thrilled to be on top. Having made short work of Seward we began to set our sights on getting all three in the first day. If we were able to do that, getting Seymour on our second day looked very possible. We hustled back to our camp on Donaldson reaching the summit by 3:00 p.m. and headed for Emmons by 3:15 p.m. The trip over to Emmons seemed much longer than we had expected/remembered. Maybe it was poor memory or maybe we were starting to feel the long day. We reached the top of Emmons at 4:00 p.m. feeling pretty tired. The hike back to camp was long, but we eventually made it by 5:00 p.m. and began the slow process of melting snow for warm drinks and dinner.

Dawn on Donaldson:

1/17: We woke up at 6:10 a.m. Overnight the skies cleared and the temperature dropped. The temp was in the upper teens, but still no new snow. After getting out of the tent we realized we had a great opportunity for a rare scene from the top of an Adirondack peak in the winter with the sun just beginning to come up. Vern took advantage of the situation and got some beautiful pictures. The sky was pink and the valleys had filled with clouds wrapping all of the peaks with a light white blanket around them. After breaking camp we headed down the Calkins Brook herd path, reaching the Blueberry Lean-to at 11:30 a.m. Tired and feeling the previous long day, we set up camp in the lean-to and ate lunch. It appeared that the group of five from the previous day had kept their plans to hike Seymour due to the fresh tracks on the trail.

At 12:30 p.m. we headed for Seymour excited that we were about to bag the fourth peak on day-two which would allow us to depart early on Monday morning. While climbing up, the group of five passed us on their way down giving us words of encouragement. We reached the top at 2:45 p.m. with moderate winds and decreasing views. We were able to snap a few shots while we rested from the trip up. We enjoyed some great butt slides down off Seymour and reached the Blueberry Lean-to at 4:00 p.m. We had far exceeded our goal and were done with plenty of time to relax in the Lean-to with hot drinks and plenty of sore muscles. The evening was short and we were in bed at 6:40 p.m. A new record for the old farts!

1/18: We woke at 5:30 a.m. with temps about thirty and a light mist. We broke camp and began the hike out at 7:20 a.m. We reached the parking lot at 9:10am, cleaned up and headed home. We had a great time with fantastic results. We never broke one inch of trail and got all four Sewards in one winter weekend. If you needed the Sewards, this was the weekend to do it!

Santanoni Range

January 22 to 24, 2010. Leader: Don Berens. Participants: Frank Cabron, Jim Dykes, Vern Kreuter and Allan Sowinski

Most of us spent Friday night at Aunt Polly's B & B in Newcomb, but Vern stayed at Olbert's Cloudsplitter Outfitters, also in Newcomb. On Saturday, we all met at the trailhead at 8:00 am with a temperature of minus 8 and literally cloudless skies. The trail and herd paths had been firmly packed a week earlier and over a dozen day hikers were in the range on this day. The forecast was for a spectacular warming Saturday, and a dry Sunday morning, followed later on Sunday by a wet sloppy mess.

We backpacked 1.8 miles up the road and 2.5 miles up the trail to the old beaver dam south of the lean-to. We carried the packs another 1-1/2 miles up the herdpath skirting the north shore of Bradley Pond and west up along Panther Brook. As we climbed above 3,500 feet, the trees were covered with ever thicker globs of frozen snow. When we reached Times Square just after noon, the trees were dripping, showing that the temperature had risen 40 degrees in four hours.

In the neighborhood of Times Square, there were many week-old and hours-old tracks, some of them coinciding with the summer herdpaths, but many of them not. We dropped our packs at the clearing by the boulder and took some time to eat, drink and breathe. While doing so, a couple walked through the clearing four times from three different directions looking for a path to any of the peaks, but reporting that they were all dead ends.

We tried Couchsachraga first. The usual herdpath had been broken by the wandering couple for fifty yards to a snow-bent tree. We knocked the snow off the tree, it sprang upright, and we saw the unbroken herdpath beyond. Another hundred yards of breaking, brought us to a junction of firm week-old tracks with hours-old snowshoe prints. We followed the track that led west toward Couchie, sometimes in the herdpath and sometimes not. We saw several day hikers in two or three parties, returning from Couchie and we reached the peak at 2:00 p.m. It was sunny with fine views of Whiteface and of the Panther-Santanoni ridge, gleaming white. We retraced our steps back to Times Square by 3:40 p.m. On the windward side of the ridge, we were impressed by walls of snow plastering the spruce boughs together in continuous masses of white up to thirty feet high and thirty feet wide.

Most of us decided to go to Panther while Don looked for a track to Santanoni. Don found one of the herd paths to Santanoni, but it was unbroken, so he figured there must be a broken track somewhere that folks had been using for the last week. He found a possibility 150 yards down the herdpath toward Couchie and returned to our campsite on the Panther-Santanoni ridge at 4:50 p.m. as the others returned from Panther. Some clouds on the western horizon made for a brilliant orange sunset and a half moon hung high overhead in a clear night sky.

Sunday morning we saw a spectacular sunrise and left camp at 7:35 a.m. with mostly clear skies and perhaps plus 10 degrees. We followed the Couchie herd path for 150 yards and then turned south on a bushwhack track that took us through often dense spruce to the top of Santanoni before 9:00 a.m. After 15 minutes admiring the views from the summit, we returned to our campsite and left with full packs at 10:25 a.m. We made quick work of the downhill track, under warming and clouding skies. We last saw sun at 12:40 p.m and reached the cars at 1:05 p.m, missing the torrential rains that began after dark.

Haystack

January 29 to 31, 2010. Leader: Andy Ryan

Participant: Sven Vetter

Fresh from his introductory trip with Mike Forsyth, Sven Vetter signed up to climb Haystack with me. Due to other cancellations, Sven and I were alone on the trip.

The trip on Friday night to Schroon Lake was unremarkable. The Maple Leaf Motel, on the other hand, is remarkable. To put this report in proper context, I must go back to my first stay at the Maple Leaf sometime in the 1990's. The RWMS contingent completely filled the motel that Friday night, and the atmosphere was downright festive. Bill Crowe and Frank Cabron brought beers and we spent the evening visiting other rooms, sharing stories and drinking. We didn't care that someone left the door open when they came or went because the heat didn't work anyway. The only lights that actually worked were bare bulbs. The next morning, we were invited to the motel office for breakfast, which, at that time, had a luncheon counter. The proprietor arose from his slumber at 4:30 and by 5:00 was serving us an unlimited supply of coffee, eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes. As we left the office that morning, he collected the princely sum of $15 per person for the bed and the breakfast. And we probably paid too much.

Fast forward to January 2010. The Maple Leaf has been upgraded over the years with renovations galore: fresh coat of paint, new heating system, storm windows, next-to-new mattresses, light fixtures and even an in-room refrigerator. The place barely resembles the off-the-beaten-path, kitschy sort of joint that you would never visit with your spouse. In fact, I am considering removing it from the usual rotation of RWMS-approved hostels all together. There were no insects. The sheets were clean. The heat worked. The lights worked. The doors shut properly. The windows were insulated. We actually had TV reception. And we each had our own bed. In fact, it was downright posh. The worst insult of all: we paid $79 for the room, sans breakfast. I am not sure that we can, as an organization, continue to patronize such a place.

Sven, who was in his first season with the RWMS, thought that this was the normal sort of place where one would stay on a trip. Maybe I am being nostalgic, but it is my fear that there will be a whole generation of RWMS members who will never know what it is like to stay in a third rate motel with one bare light bulb, overcrowded with smelly gear and people. This new generation will insist on staying in chain hotels with a heated pool and free HBO. They will want wake-up calls, plumbing, hot showers and a continental breakfast.

I was saddened to learn this winter that the Wayfarer Motel (See, Gothics, Pyramid Sawteeth Trip Report, February 2008) has, shall we say, turned off its lights for the last time. I am saddened because you have not lived if you have never spent a night at the Wayfarer, or one of the similar establishments that are scattered throughout the Adirondack preserve. Really, try one next winter. You won't forget it.

Haystack was fine. We were back in Rochester by Sunday afternoon.

Whiteface & Esther

February 5-7, 2010. Leader: Reinhard Gsellmeier. Participants: Jim Dykes, Jim Fetten & Mike Gsellmeier.

After a four mile hike in, our basecamp was setup Friday next to the Whiteface Lean-to. Saturday, the group was intent on climbing the slide on the southwest face of Whiteface. We started out on the red-marked trail, but left the trail where it makes a turn to the right away from Whiteface Brook. Dropping down into the brook we knew was not a desirable option, thanks to some advance scouting the day before after setting up camp; sections of the brook had open water, and there were lots of boulders. Instead our bushwhack took us in a generally northerly direction, near the top of the left bank. Near the end of the brook we did drop down into it, following it a ways to its termination at a slide. From a prior trip Jim D. knew that this was not the slide we were looking for, so we bushwhacked another 100 yds. or so to the northwest until we came upon the slide that leads to the summit. Changing over to crampons and with our ice axes in hand, up we started. The slide was a combination of glazed ice, snow and bare rock – but we made it without incident. The summit offered clear views in all directions, and we could look down on the ski runs and across to the Green Mountains in Vermont. After a short break for lunch, off we headed to Esther. The trail/herdpath were well broken, so this was a pretty easy trek (there is now a sign up on the main trail at the intersection with the Esther herdpath). The main trail did bring us very close to one of the Whiteface downhill runs, so naturally we went over to investigate and in the process startled some skiers. One can only imagine what they relayed to family and friends when the returned home:

Scared the bejeezers out of us at first, but they seemed "normal" enough when we talked to them. Sa they were camping out……can you imagine, in this weather…….and that they were climbing peaks. What some people won't do – and then they call it fun!!! I'm told they even have their own club…..I think it's called the Rochester Winter Mountaineering Society, where similar like-minded societal deviants come together and hike the mountains in winter. I guess they're a pretty harmless bunch for the most part, but I've been warned not to wave food around in front of them……there was one big fella in that group we saw [that would be Mike], who kept asking if I had any sandwiches along….."

We returned to camp Saturday around 6, broke camp early on Sunday AM and hiked out – with plenty of time to get back home for the Super Bowl/parties! This was a great weekend with a really good group, and the weather couldn't have been much better with overnight lows around -5º, not much wind, and clear skies. It doesn't get much better than that in the 'Dacks in early Feb!

Allen Mountain

February 19 to 21, 2010

Leader: Jim Dykes. Participants: Paul Sheneman, Don Berens, Laura Williams, Ian Webber and Margaret O’Keefe

The group met at Olbert’s Cloudsplitter Outfitters in Newcomb on Friday night. We stayed in the Pilot’s House and found the accommodations very comfortable. We awoke early on Saturday morning and arrived at the trailhead just after 7:00. The word was obviously out that the Opalescent River was frozen as the lot was nearly full. We donned our gear and began hiking at 7:20 under cloudy skies and a temperature of 27E. The trail was well-packed as we arrived at the crossing at about 9:00. As the reports had stated, the Opalescent was frozen and we had no trouble crossing this key hurdle (see my report from last year). We found a suitable camping spot just before Skylight Brook, setup and ate lunch.

At about 12:15, we began our climb of Allen. As stated previously, with the many parties hiking today the trail was well-packed and easily followed. As we proceeded towards the slide we saw several hikers coming down carrying small plastic sleds. This piqued our interest. The slide was snow-covered with some ice patches underneath. Some of the group stayed in snowshoes and others switched to crampons. We proceeded up the steep slide achieving a good “calf burn” along the way and arrived at the summit at about 2:15. We re-fueled on designer chocolates, quickly becoming a tradition and enjoyed a short rest. There were no real views due to the low clouds. With rumors swirling around the Vancouver Winter Olympics that peak butt-sliding was being considered for addition to the next games, Don demonstrated his considerable skills at this new sport with Paul and Jim following close behind. Move over Apolo Ohno. This made the descent very fast and very fun.

We returned to camp at about 3:35 tired but successful. Paul cooked a great stir-fry for Jim and Margaret and Laura handled the cooking duties for Ian and Don, as everyone ate outside in the relatively mild temperatures. The night was mild as temperatures only dipped to about 20E. We were up early on Sunday morning and broke camp at 6:30. There was some light snow on the hike out which always adds a nice visual touch, then some breaks of sun. We made good time hiking out and were at the cars at 9:45. We changed and headed to the Long Lake Diner for breakfast. My thanks to a great group and for making my third winter attempt on Allen successful.

Algonquin, Iroquois, and Wright (bonus peaks of Marcy, Street and Nye)

March 6-7, 2010

Participants: Coleman Goughary, Vern Kreuter, Neal Andrews

We left ADK Loj at 8:20 am under clear sunny skies and warm temperatures. Three of us following the well broken trail up to the campsite on the side of Wright (3300'), just before the waterfall. We set up camp then packed day packs for the climb. No need for crampons with depth of hard packed snow cover. It was quite windy on top of Algonquin but we could see forever. The Vermont peaks were very clear. We headed down towards Iroquois and that herd path was broken out too. Less windy on top there so we paused for some lunch around 12:15. Back up and over Algonquin still early in the day we decided to do Wright as well. It was fun to watch the skiers and snowboarders going down the slides and ski trail. We were back to the campsite by around 4 pm. Vern decided that he would like to do Marcy on Sunday. Cole wanted to do Street and Nye. So after delicious dinners, we slept well until the next morning. Vern followed the trail back to the Whales Tail trail and did Marcy in just under 6 hours, and reports back that the top was quite windy with snow pellets hitting him all the time above tree line, but still clear skies. Neal and Cole broke out the old Algonquin trail back to Heart Lake and then headed across to get Street and Nye. Sunday at the lower elevations was quite warm and the snow melting from the trees was falling in big chunks like snow bombs the whole way to Street and Nye. Vern who has hiked many weekends this year stated it was the best weather of all the trips. See you all next year.

SEYMOUR

March 12-14, 2010. Leader: Jim Dykes. Participants: Don Berens, Rob Mead, Karin Topfer, Mark Baker & Cliff McKay

The trip was organized by Paul Sheneman, who unfortunately could not attend due to illness. The group stayed at the Tupper Lake Motel on Friday night. We watched the weather forecast closely to determine if this would be a day-hike or a camping trip. With a promising forecast considering the rainy one predicted earlier in the week we decided to camp. Don was already committed to a day-hike and stayed with this plan.

Summit of Seymour:

We awoke early on Saturday morning and began our hike from the winter trailhead at 5:55 with a temperature of 32E and mostly cloudy skies. The road was mainly ice with some bare stretches. We found the trail from the summer trailhead to the Blueberry Lean-To in good shape. This was a little surprising given the extended period of warm temperatures. We arrived at the Blueberry Lean-To at 9:00. We arranged our gear and had a snack. Don proceeded forward considering the 20 mile day that he had in store. We proceeded towards Seymour finding a well-broken path. It probably didn’t always follow the traditional herdpath but served us well.

As we ascended the steep section next to the slide the views of Whiteface and the MacIntire Range began to appear. We reached the summit at about 12:00 encountering Don on his way down. The summit was a little windy but initially helped to cool us after hiking in near 40E temperatures. There were nice views especially of the other Sewards and Santanoni Range. Per tradition we enjoyed designer chocolates and began our descent arriving back at the lean-to at 2:30.

We enjoyed a leisurely meal and good night’s rest. On Sunday we awoke early and began hiking out at 7:15. We encountered some sporadic light drizzle as well as a few very brief breaks of sun. Checking the register at the summer trailhead we discovered that we were the only hikers that weekend. We arrived at the car at 10:15 and quickly changed as the drizzle began to pick up. The temperature was 37E as we drove to the White Birch for brunch and then home.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Vern and Paul get rid of some weight at Marcy Dam

Greg atop Colden with Flowed Lands in background

A comfortable night was had at Marcy Dam in a cozy leanto. Temperatures reached the lower to mid teens during the night. The next morning saw the trip leader disappear to find the nearest hole-in-the-ground and nearly miss breakfast. Once on the trail the group was quickly on top of Phelps mountain and were rewarded with spectacular views of the McIntyre and Great Ranges. The warm sun made the temperatures so bearable that we stayed at the summit for the better part of an hour just relaxing and enjoying the fresh air and ever-changing views due to micro-clouds that were forming in the bright sunshine. I pointed out a slide I was planning on skiing the following weekend and took a very close-up picture of it. One of the other two pointed out that the left part of the slide looked a little bare, which struck curiosity given the recent snowfall. Once home I found that the aforementioned slide had, well, slid in an avalanche leaving two very lucky skiers with little injury and the ability to dig themselves out.

Our friend that greeted us at the Tabletop herdpath entrance

Paul and Vern checking out views of Marcy in the bright sunshine

Angel Slides, post avalanche. Left side slid the day before

RWMS Trip Reports Winter 2010 is published by the Rochester Winter Mountaineering Society and edited by Mike Forsyth, 3873W, <adktripper@earthlink.net>. Copyright 2010, RWMS.