The Hiking Blog

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: High Peaks, Hiking11 Comments

Phelps Mountain Mission

Posted on by Peter Minde

Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to get your a$$ up one of the 46 High Peaks before summer is out. If you fail, readers will deny any knowledge of your existence. This tape will self destruct in 30 seconds.

Marcy Dam

Eight months into my new life in Saranac Lake, I had yet to get out on one of the Adirondack 4000. I’ve been on all of them, some of them multiple times, but most of that was a long time ago.

Sunday had a sketchy forecast. Monday would be better, but my child would be driving up on Monday to spend the month with me, so Monday was out. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. After looking at my options, Phelps Mountain came out on top.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, High Peaks, Hiking8 Comments