Adirondack Winter 46 vs White Mountain 48

[earlylite]

Great article today by Carol White about the Adirondack Winter 46 and how they compare to the White Mountain 48. Carol is the "Steve Smith" of the Dacks.

http://sectionhiker.com/perils-of-the-adirondack-winter-46-by-carol-white/

 

[Tom Rankin]

Without reading it, I will state my personal opinion that the W46 is harder than the W48. But every year (and every hike!) could be different. Hoping Joe Cedar will chime in because he did them both in a single winter, so he might be one of the most well qualified to comment.

 

[TCD]

I glanced at the article, and it makes sense. In the Adirondacks, there are definitely more challenges of remoteness and poorly defined routes! The Whites, of course, have much more extensive above treeline travel, more dangerous weather conditions up there, and the unique conditions on the Presidentials, so those are hazards that are probably more challenging there. It's all good!

 

[Peakbagr]

An interesting read. Moving this to General Backcountry so more NE people will read and comment.

Alan

 

[JoeCedar]

TCD did a good job pointing out some of the important differences between the ranges.

As I have commented before, "the Whites are harder than the Adirondacks,but they're easier". A round of the White Mt 48 will total greater miles and greater total ascent than a round of the Adirondack 46. This applies in winter as well as summer. In my own experiences, comparing total miles and total hours is a fair way to indicate which mountain range is easier. I find that I can always hike faster in the Whites than in the Adirondacks, even though I am more familiar with the latter. In the winter 2011-2012 when I did a round of each, here the numbers:

Adk 46
256 mi in 126 h = 2.03 mi/h

White Mts 48
261 mi in 114.5 h = 2.28 mi/h

The overall difficulty of the hikes was similar. Each range was completed in a total of 18 hiking days.