Author: ThatNYSkier

A Long Day on Dix

Posted on by ThatNYSkier

With the temperatures dropping and the summer’s rain finally coming to an end, my brother Bailey and I figured it’d be a perfect time to head back up to the Adirondacks in search of adventure on another landslide. The recent dry weather intrigued us to look for something that would give us a good challenge.

Beckhorn drainage

After much discussion with Bailey and another slide climbing connoisseur — Brian Hikes All Day, as he is known on YouTube — we decided upon a daring day on Dix Mountain (4857’). Much like Whiteface, Dix is consistently steep, tall, and scarred with landslides on almost all of its flanks.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Hiking6 Comments

Lake Placid Slide Climb

Posted on by ThatNYSkier

When visiting Lake Placid, the long scar that runs down the western flank of Whiteface is hard to miss. Appropriately named the Lake Placid slide, this climb holds some of the best views in the High Peaks. Formed in the 1800s and “cleaned” in 1971 during a torrential downpour, this slide has become a classic route up Whiteface in the summer months and a coveted ski in the winter.

This backcountry ski descent is on my list to check out this next season, but for now my objective was to kayak across the entire lake, beach at Whiteface Landing, and follow the trail up until I needed to bushwhack to reach the base of the slide.

kayak

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Tagged: Ski Life10 Comments

The Giant and His Bottle

Posted on by ThatNYSkier

With the ski season over, I figured it was time to get back my other passion, slide climbing. The large slabs of anorthosite are a fun and adventurous way to reach the summit of an Adirondack peak. Of course, combined with a good amount of snowfall, they become a thrilling descent on backcountry skis.

View from the top of Roaring Brook Falls

Almost every High Peak in the Park has at least one slide, while a few have more than a handful. Giant Mountain is one of these select few, boasting roughly 9 separate landslides on each of its flanks. Each has their own unique characteristics and difficulty, with the hardest one being the Eagle, a Class IV climb that doesn’t require rope but is steep enough to send a careless climber hundreds of feet down the mountain.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Backcountry, Hiking4 Comments