EarthNsky
New member
The forecast was looking cold and extremely windy with a wind chill that could bite your head off. We knew going in that the snow, if any, would be nil at best.
I met Crazypace around 530pm Friday night and we were on the road by 630. We made decent time getting there inspite of the ski traffic we encountered in the Poconos. We arrived at the Black Dome trailhead on Big Hollow Rd. The parking lot was covered in ice, but there was no snow to speak of, zilch. I was surprised since the trail head is around 2250 feet.
It was quite cold though, very cold and ultra-windy. We were both packing around 80 lbs of weight in our packs. We hiked into the dark woods on the Black Dome Trail and then switched to the Batavia Kill Trail and a mile point three later and some five hundred feet higher, we arrived at the Batavia Kill Lean-to, which was pretty easy to find as it was right off the trail.
The leanto was empty. We had planned to set up tents, but the wind gusts were fierce, so we opted to set up basecamp 1 in the lean-to.
It was around 11, we tried to get a fire going, but the wind would have no part in it. The stars were out in force and soon after the moon followed and lit up the night sky. It didn't take long and we were both out cold in the cold, only to wake up now and then due to the wind gusts sounding like 747s taking off from the trail.
We both woke up before 7am to view the white out conditions from inside the lean-to. The world outside was covered in a thin layer of white and it was pretty. The snow was falling heavily and the wind was still blowing mightly.
We packed up and prepared our daypacks and then stashed our overnight packs in the woods. The snow continued to fall. Our plan for the day was to traverse the Blackhead Range and in the process bag Blackhead, Black Dome and Thomas Cole.
We set out and started the gentle climb on the Batavia Kill Trail up to the Escarpment Trail. There we turned south and the climb continued to be gentle for a short while further. It didn't take long to encounter ice and after a few near-slides, we decided to donn our crampons.
Once we had our crampons on, the pitch of the trail grew steeper and steeper and with the increased steepness, came more ice. Needless to say, the trail would have been impassible without crampons.
We came out onto a ledge on the Catskill front that overlooked the Hudson Valley to the east. Visibility was low, but we still could see valley below. The sun had trying to come out all morning. Knowing there were more views to come, I started doing a sun chant to help coax it out from behind the clouds.
After the view, the trail got very steep, it was almost straight up. This partof the trail is considered to be the steepest in the Catskills. At the time of our climb, it was an icewall. We both got out our ice axes. I stopped to fix my crampons while Crazypace climbed the wall towards the summit and told me he'd wait for me at the top. Halfway up he yelled down to tell me it was solid ice and that the axe would be necessary for the climb.
Shortly after, I got my crampons adjusted and I started my climb. I reached up and thought I had a good hand hold and then kicked into the ice with my crampon and started to pull myself up, but my hand slipped out of the hold. Yup, no way to get up this with out the axe.
I axed into the ice and used the anchored axe as a hold and pulled myself up. With both feet dug into the ice, I pulled the axe out and repeated the process until I was at the top of the wall. Once I got to the top, I looked back down and thought about how much fun that was. For the first time in my life, I felt like a mountaineer, even though I was climbing a mountain that is under 4,000 feet high.
At the top Crazypace was waiting for me. We both talked about how much fun it was climbing the icewall and then celebrated the peak bag and turned onto the BlackHead-Black Dome Range Trail. The trail followed the ridge of BlackHead for a little through snowwy stunted spruce and fir trees and they acted like shields from the fierce wind that was wripping acrossed the summit. We came to an opening and could see across to Black Dome, which was but a silouette in the falling snow and fog.
We scambled down off of Blackhead into the col. We crossed the col and then started up Black Dome. There was a section of scrambling to get up a ledge, but it wasn't too bad, and once upon the top of the ledge, the view, albiet still foggy was very nice. The sun was now picking up the pace in burning off the clouds.
It wasn't too long after the ledge that we reached the summit of Black Dome and we were both surprised by how easy it was. There was another view from the top of Black Dome and from there we celebrated another successful peak bag and continued on our way.
The descent from Black Dome was less steep and had virtually no scrambling. At one point we could see across the col to the summit of Thomas Cole and it looked fairly big. We wondered what the climb up Thomas Cole would be like. It turned out that it wasn't steep at all and before long, we were at the top of it. We crossed the entire length of the summit ridge until the trail began descending to make sure we had the summit. We didn't find any views from the peak, but there was much rejoicing after reaching the days goal of getting all three of the Blackheads.
The temperature started to drop quickly and we could definitely feel it was getting colder fast. The wind was still blowing fiercely as well. We turned back around and started to head back down. We had lunch just below the summit and then finished the descent when we ran into another hiker who was out for the day.
We chatted with him, he said he also occasionally posts on views from the top. I didn't catch his trailname though. He continued on his way up Thomas Cole as we started back up Black Dome.
The sun was now out so we stopped at the summit view on Black Dome and we could see across to the Devils Path Range. The wind was whipping snow off of the trees and it was whirling around like a mini tornado. It was very cool to watch.
The view from the top of the ledge on th east face of Black Dome was also now free from clouds and fog and we could see the tall buildings in Albany, some thirty miles away and before us was the Hudson Valley, Taconics Range in Connecticut and Massechussets, Devils Path Range and Kaaterskill High Peak and directly in front of us was Black Head. It was a great view and we took it in for more than 10 minutes.
We then scrambled down off of the ledge and then back down into the col between black dome and blackhead. There we took off the crampons and took a break before heading back to the lean-to by taking a shortcut on the black dome trail.
Bryan, the hiker was saw on the way down from Thomas Cole then caught back up with us and he hiked down off of the Blackheads with us. We parted ways at the bottom when he continued on the Black Dome trail and we turned onto the Batavia Kill trail to go back to the lean-to to get our packs.
The temperature was supposed to get down to six in Albany, that meant it would be near or below zero where we were and the windchill would make it even colder. It was only 245, so we decided to head back down to the vehicle and then back into town where we would find a hotel room and dinner.
I know, hardly roughing it, but due to the windchill, we thought it was a good plan.
We also figured that we could then rest up and get one more peak on Sunday.
We had an awesome dinner at Black Bear Inn and then tuckered from the day's hike, we were asleep before 9.
stay tuned for part 2
I met Crazypace around 530pm Friday night and we were on the road by 630. We made decent time getting there inspite of the ski traffic we encountered in the Poconos. We arrived at the Black Dome trailhead on Big Hollow Rd. The parking lot was covered in ice, but there was no snow to speak of, zilch. I was surprised since the trail head is around 2250 feet.
It was quite cold though, very cold and ultra-windy. We were both packing around 80 lbs of weight in our packs. We hiked into the dark woods on the Black Dome Trail and then switched to the Batavia Kill Trail and a mile point three later and some five hundred feet higher, we arrived at the Batavia Kill Lean-to, which was pretty easy to find as it was right off the trail.
The leanto was empty. We had planned to set up tents, but the wind gusts were fierce, so we opted to set up basecamp 1 in the lean-to.
It was around 11, we tried to get a fire going, but the wind would have no part in it. The stars were out in force and soon after the moon followed and lit up the night sky. It didn't take long and we were both out cold in the cold, only to wake up now and then due to the wind gusts sounding like 747s taking off from the trail.
We both woke up before 7am to view the white out conditions from inside the lean-to. The world outside was covered in a thin layer of white and it was pretty. The snow was falling heavily and the wind was still blowing mightly.
We packed up and prepared our daypacks and then stashed our overnight packs in the woods. The snow continued to fall. Our plan for the day was to traverse the Blackhead Range and in the process bag Blackhead, Black Dome and Thomas Cole.
We set out and started the gentle climb on the Batavia Kill Trail up to the Escarpment Trail. There we turned south and the climb continued to be gentle for a short while further. It didn't take long to encounter ice and after a few near-slides, we decided to donn our crampons.
Once we had our crampons on, the pitch of the trail grew steeper and steeper and with the increased steepness, came more ice. Needless to say, the trail would have been impassible without crampons.
We came out onto a ledge on the Catskill front that overlooked the Hudson Valley to the east. Visibility was low, but we still could see valley below. The sun had trying to come out all morning. Knowing there were more views to come, I started doing a sun chant to help coax it out from behind the clouds.
After the view, the trail got very steep, it was almost straight up. This partof the trail is considered to be the steepest in the Catskills. At the time of our climb, it was an icewall. We both got out our ice axes. I stopped to fix my crampons while Crazypace climbed the wall towards the summit and told me he'd wait for me at the top. Halfway up he yelled down to tell me it was solid ice and that the axe would be necessary for the climb.
Shortly after, I got my crampons adjusted and I started my climb. I reached up and thought I had a good hand hold and then kicked into the ice with my crampon and started to pull myself up, but my hand slipped out of the hold. Yup, no way to get up this with out the axe.
I axed into the ice and used the anchored axe as a hold and pulled myself up. With both feet dug into the ice, I pulled the axe out and repeated the process until I was at the top of the wall. Once I got to the top, I looked back down and thought about how much fun that was. For the first time in my life, I felt like a mountaineer, even though I was climbing a mountain that is under 4,000 feet high.
At the top Crazypace was waiting for me. We both talked about how much fun it was climbing the icewall and then celebrated the peak bag and turned onto the BlackHead-Black Dome Range Trail. The trail followed the ridge of BlackHead for a little through snowwy stunted spruce and fir trees and they acted like shields from the fierce wind that was wripping acrossed the summit. We came to an opening and could see across to Black Dome, which was but a silouette in the falling snow and fog.
We scambled down off of Blackhead into the col. We crossed the col and then started up Black Dome. There was a section of scrambling to get up a ledge, but it wasn't too bad, and once upon the top of the ledge, the view, albiet still foggy was very nice. The sun was now picking up the pace in burning off the clouds.
It wasn't too long after the ledge that we reached the summit of Black Dome and we were both surprised by how easy it was. There was another view from the top of Black Dome and from there we celebrated another successful peak bag and continued on our way.
The descent from Black Dome was less steep and had virtually no scrambling. At one point we could see across the col to the summit of Thomas Cole and it looked fairly big. We wondered what the climb up Thomas Cole would be like. It turned out that it wasn't steep at all and before long, we were at the top of it. We crossed the entire length of the summit ridge until the trail began descending to make sure we had the summit. We didn't find any views from the peak, but there was much rejoicing after reaching the days goal of getting all three of the Blackheads.
The temperature started to drop quickly and we could definitely feel it was getting colder fast. The wind was still blowing fiercely as well. We turned back around and started to head back down. We had lunch just below the summit and then finished the descent when we ran into another hiker who was out for the day.
We chatted with him, he said he also occasionally posts on views from the top. I didn't catch his trailname though. He continued on his way up Thomas Cole as we started back up Black Dome.
The sun was now out so we stopped at the summit view on Black Dome and we could see across to the Devils Path Range. The wind was whipping snow off of the trees and it was whirling around like a mini tornado. It was very cool to watch.
The view from the top of the ledge on th east face of Black Dome was also now free from clouds and fog and we could see the tall buildings in Albany, some thirty miles away and before us was the Hudson Valley, Taconics Range in Connecticut and Massechussets, Devils Path Range and Kaaterskill High Peak and directly in front of us was Black Head. It was a great view and we took it in for more than 10 minutes.
We then scrambled down off of the ledge and then back down into the col between black dome and blackhead. There we took off the crampons and took a break before heading back to the lean-to by taking a shortcut on the black dome trail.
Bryan, the hiker was saw on the way down from Thomas Cole then caught back up with us and he hiked down off of the Blackheads with us. We parted ways at the bottom when he continued on the Black Dome trail and we turned onto the Batavia Kill trail to go back to the lean-to to get our packs.
The temperature was supposed to get down to six in Albany, that meant it would be near or below zero where we were and the windchill would make it even colder. It was only 245, so we decided to head back down to the vehicle and then back into town where we would find a hotel room and dinner.
I know, hardly roughing it, but due to the windchill, we thought it was a good plan.
We also figured that we could then rest up and get one more peak on Sunday.
We had an awesome dinner at Black Bear Inn and then tuckered from the day's hike, we were asleep before 9.
stay tuned for part 2
Last edited:
KHP was my final winter 3500 and I know folks who are planning on finishing on KHP in April..
