Slide trails, which one?

[richard]

I’ve never been up neither the Flume slide nor the Tripyramid slide before! Which one should I try first? I would prefer the one with the least amount of risk first.

 

[peakbagger]

I prefer Flume as there is less loose stuff at the top for some other person to knock down. I did tripyramid on a weekday early and still had rocks come skipping by at high velocity. I am surprised I don't hear trail reports of folks getting hit.

 

[sierra]

Flume Slide is easier.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Easy to bail into the woods on Flume.

 

[Mike P.]

Flume allows easy bailing into the woods and you should see where others have done so. One caveat I would say is that Flume is a little slicker when wet. Now, if you are looking for up Flume and down Liberty Spring, that is easier than descending either South Slide or the Saddaday Brook Trail.


The views from the Tripyramid slides are better, however, IMO, the Flume and Liberty summit views are the highest of either. If Fall, the view towards the lakes from South Slide is a very nice foliage stop.

 

[DayTrip]

Agree with consensus: North Tripyramid Slide is much harder in my opinion. North Slide has a pretty continuously steep stretch of about 1/4 mile at the beginning where you are constantly using hands and feet to work your way up corners and joints in slabs, relying on the friction of your shoes to hold your position on steep slabs, etc. I haven't done it in awhile but I remember it being poorly blazed too so it was easy to drift on the actual slide and take easier and/or more difficult lines to the top. That might have changed. The upper half is really just a steep talus field dotted with some ledge with fairly obvious cairns to navigate that is tedious but not particularly dangerous. Flume is the more traditional NH scrambling of a few moves followed by stretches of steep hiking and as others have mentioned there are many bypasses of the trickier spots now. Most of the scrambles are blocky with good "texture" for hand and foot placements but there are a few tricky spots, especially if you're short.

Both can also be wet in the lower sections. Both are very steep. Neither one has the kind of exposure where you'd fall 50 feet to your death like say Huntington or Six Husbands but they both have plenty of spots where you could fall 5-6' onto angled slabs and hurt yourself pretty good. I wouldn't descend either one unless it was truly a dire and unavoidable situation. They're both fun too, which is the point right?

 

[jrbren]

IMHO wet rock was the biggest challenge of either one of them. Both could be "cheated" by bypassing the worst sections in the woods. I did not perceive either being significantly more difficult than the other. I did the north slide on Tripyramid a couple of years ago during the drought, the lower sections were still wet and super slippery. I wonder if both would be easier in winter, where I could wear traction. I would need to study up on any avalanche threat first. The upper portion of the north slide of Tripyramid is one of the best sections of "trail" in the Whites, IMHO. It dries out and the views are outstanding. I also enjoyed the Tripyramid slides much more due to the crowd factor. The liberty/flume loop is a congo line, almost as bad as the famous falling waters & bridle path loop. The Tripyramids have not been overwhelmed yet, so I should probably keep my mouth shut.

 

[sierra]

IMHO wet rock was the biggest challenge of either one of them. Both could be "cheated" by bypassing the worst sections in the woods. I did not perceive either being significantly more difficult than the other. I did the north slide on Tripyramid a couple of years ago during the drought, the lower sections were still wet and super slippery. I wonder if both would be easier in winter, where I could wear traction. I would need to study up on any avalanche threat first. The upper portion of the north slide of Tripyramid is one of the best sections of "trail" in the Whites, IMHO. It dries out and the views are outstanding. I also enjoyed the Tripyramid slides much more due to the crowd factor. The liberty/flume loop is a congo line, almost as bad as the famous falling waters & bridle path loop. The Tripyramids have not been overwhelmed yet, so I should probably keep my mouth shut.

I wouldn't worry to much. The hero's on social media only hike where the views are stupendous and they look like they are in the greatest place on earth. The Trypyramid's are mostly wooded thus safe from the FB superstars.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I wouldn't worry to much. The hero's on social media only hike where the views are stupendous and they look like they are in the greatest place on earth. The Trypyramid's are mostly wooded thus safe from the FB superstars.

No 4K is safe from the FB superstars. Heroes love getting in over their head, the North Slide is prime territory.

 

[egilbe]

I saw quite a few people (6 or 7) when I did the Tris a couple years ago. 2 of them paralleled us up the North Slide. They were on one side,y gf and I on the other. I don't think that trail was as bad as Baldface Circle trail, honestly. I would do those slides again before scrambling up the ledges on Baldface

 

[TEO]

a neat thing about the tripyramids is that because so many people do it clockwise you often don't run into a lot of people even though they are extremely popular. If you go counter-clockwise it'll blow your mind.

I accidentally did this when I first did the Tripyramids in the naughts. I was on the trail early mideweek, and IIRC, didn't see another soul. It was a great hike, and coming from someone who is not terribly comfortable with exposure, I found it surprisingly easy.

 

[DayTrip]

I was on the trail early mideweek, and IIRC, didn't see another soul.

I did the loop on a spectacular, dry and sunny FRI in July and didn't see a single person all day. I was shocked. To date, this is the only hike I've ever done, Summer or Winter, where I haven't seen anyone. It was back in 2013 I think though. Foot traffic has definitely increased since then.