saddle and basin, Feb. 7th

Rocky ridge and Giant, Feb. 7th

Ok friends...My second attempt of winter hiking.change of plans..deleted the S/B post Feb. 7th.

Got crampons? Due to the steep wall on the west side of Saddleback, it is highly recommended that you not do those 2 peaks in that direction. Personally, I won't even climb that wall in winter, but plenty of people do AFTER going over Basin via the Shorey Shortcut.

I'll start over. If you don't want to do Haystack, then hike to Slant Rock, cross the brook and go up and over the Shorey Shortcut to the col below Basin. Climb up and over Basin, descend into the col, then don your crampons to climb UP the wall to Saddleback's summit. Then you can descend Orebed Brook Trail back to Johns Brook by JBL. Good luck, and start early!

well knowing i have very little expierence and gear this may need to be rethought. Thanks for the .02$. What other peaks would be good for beginners?

If you want a challenging "starter" hike, then consider

Colvin & Blake

Nippletop & Dial

Street & Nye

Giant & Rocky Peak


any of these will give you a taste of what a tough day is, but you will only need snowshoes and there are no dangerous spots involved like Basin/Saddleback.

Joe, weeks back did colvin . Yes id say RRP/giant is better..thanks

Change off plans

Feb. 7th...Giant/ RRP instead...FYI

Viewseeker said:

Feb. 7th...Giant/ RRP instead...FYI

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Good choice for an inexperienced "winter" hiker. The climb up Saddleback from Basin can be hairy in the summer never mind mid-winter.

OK, so the plan is to meet at the trail head on 73 by Chapel Pond and be ready to head up the trail by 5:30am Feb 7 if anyone wants to join in.

snow

Anyone know if they got snow this past week?

Viewseeker said:

Anyone know if they got snow this past week?

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From what I understand they got quite a bit 2 days ago. Not sure how much though.

+1 for Giant in the winter!

Did it in March '07 and am kicking myself for not tagging RPR at the same time. (Although at the time, I was happy to just get up Giant, since I was pretty hosed from the previous day's ski/climb loop of Algonquin, returning via Avalanche Pass.)

Guess I'll just have to plan another ADKs trip to get Rocky Peak, then.

1ADAM12 said:

From what I understand they got quite a bit 2 days ago. Not sure how much though.

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I was told from a local that there is about 12'' in Saranac Lake.

I'd say about a foot of fresh this week. Looked like someone went in towards Giant today.

well that sounds nice, new snow to make it look pure!! thanks
just got PM from snickers, shes in for RRP/giant....anyone one else??

There was at least 12" of new snow and some big snow drifts up high on Giant on Saturday. At least 8 of us went over to RPR; Giant received lots of traffic, so all trails are broken out now. RPR trails were getting a bit windblown, so there could be a little bit of breaking trail.

Have fun on your hike! Lots of elevation, but the views are absolutely fantastic!

Laurie

Looking forward to hitting them again, and wishing for a clear day to see the view. Been on Giant twice and RPR once, each time summits were socked in by bad weather. First time I did Giant and RPR together it was on a Dec 17, what a fool, had I waited 4 days I would have gotten winter credit. Hit Dix the day before that too. Hind-sight is always 20-20

views

Didnt we have a view the time we did it? or was that just down to the chapel pond??? I know we didnt see anything that day from RPR...

Giant/Rocky - Feb 7th

You may want to start a new thread - the Saddleback/ Basin heading is old news.

Yes, I tryed to change thread name but i guess one cant do that..

Viewseeker said:

Yes, I tryed to change thread name but i guess one cant do that..

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I've found that it will change the heading, but not the thread name. The only exception to that is when it actually DID change the thread name once, which was rather weird. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but it made me happy!