The Hancocks via Arrow Slide 6/17/09

Well what can I say? This climb is really sweet!

Started out late at around 2 at the hairpin. Trucked it to the Hancock Loop split in an hour-twenty minutes. The bottom of the slide was overgrown but easily recognizable, only about a couple minute bushwhack off trail from the low point where the North branch crosses a stream. Shortly the slide begins to open up, I took a break on a large boulder to pound some gatorade and wolf down a king sized snickers. Down low there was lots of loose gravel and small boulders, footing was kind of a pain but it got better with elevation. Towards the middle of the slide it became more slab with many wet spots which made proper route finding essential. Views became more and more spectacular the higher I got. I had one scare where I slipped on wet gravel and had to cling on for dear life on all fours to stop from sliding backwards. Scratched up my finger-tips and my shins pretty good, took a short break here to regather after fearing a tumble. There are many spots where a fall could be disastrous, especially solo. I'd say overall this slide, although shorter, is definitely steeper at the crux than North Tri, and with gravel (looked like weathered granite aka "grus") instead of the lower North slide's wet moss.



At the top of the slide I took the right fork all the way to the end where there was a faint herd path which soon petered out, woods were pretty good and relatively open until I came to a point where it choked up big time. Later, looking over from South, I saw the fir wave that guarded the way to the top which looked unavoidable whichever way I chose. It was my first experience pushing through one of these bastards, what a pain in the ass, but fun in a crazy kind of way! The wave provided some nice views though since I was taller than all the young spruce. The trail was right on the other side of the wave which I hopped on 100 yards before the North summit. Views were fantastic, and with my late start I had the place to myself.



The trip over to South went fast, the usual 4 or 5 mud holes are still there as expected. It's been a few years since I first tagged the Hancocks, the South peak viewpoint has grown in a bit since then (duhh.) The walk out was pretty enjoyable, knowing I would be out before sunset. Got back to the car in pretty good time. 9.6ish miles, 2650ish feet in 5 hours 20 minutes. Looks like I'm back in shape, I got back to the car feeling like I could handle more. Good stuff!

Pics of the afternoon

Sweet climb!

TDawg said:

At the top of the slide I took the right fork all the way to the end where there was a faint herd path which soon petered out, woods were pretty good and open until I came to a point where it choked up big time. Later, looking over from South, I saw the fir wave that guarded the way to the top which looked unavoidable whichever way I chose.

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I remember climbing this slide in the Dec of 2005 in icy, but not completely frozen conditions. I was solo and took the left fork (mistake). The black spruce and there heavily snow laden branches were no fun with temps in the single digits. Luckily its not far to the summit.

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?p=116288#post116288

Was a tread carefully situation that required switch backing carefully. I hear this slide has a lot of loose rock in the summer. I would agree that it's a bit steeper than North Slide having climbed both. I found the Arrow to be more formidable looking as it is trailess and it provides a more "in a chute" kinda feeling, but not up there in terms of difficulty and treachery compared to the smooth, more exposed Adirondack slides such as Colden above the Trap Dyke or Giant's Eagle Slide.

Nice report. Fun White Mountain slide for sure!

What an awesome trip! What an awesome report! Nice job.

Good info, good story, good pics, and that shot, which I assume to be looking south at the Tri's and Osceolas, is just beautiful in the (must be?) late-afternoon sun. Makes ya feel like yer there; makes ya wanna go.

Thanks.

Neat! Thank you for sharing! I've been eyeballing it the last few times I've been up on the loop.

dom15931 said:

Was a tread carefully situation that required switch backing carefully. I hear this slide has a lot of loose rock in the summer. I would agree that it's a bit steeper than North Slide having climbed both. I found the Arrow to be more formidable looking as it is trailess and it provides a more "in a chute" kinda feeling, but not up there in terms of difficulty and treachery compared to the smooth, more exposed Adirondack slides such as Colden above the Trap Dyke or Giant's Eagle Slide.

Nice report. Fun White Mountain slide for sure!

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You're right, a lot of loose rock and gravel. It made things tricky at times with shifting 50+ pound boulders!

Having seen pics of the Colden slides, they definitely appear more exposed.

The chute at the bottom is pretty neat, eh? Nice report by the way.

--M. said:

What an awesome trip! What an awesome report! Nice job.

Good info, good story, good pics, and that shot, which I assume to be looking south at the Tri's and Osceolas, is just beautiful in the (must be?) late-afternoon sun. Makes ya feel like yer there; makes ya wanna go.

Thanks.

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Thank you.

If you're referring to the pic in the original post of the Osceola/Scar Ridge, it was taken at 5:09pm from the North Hancock viewpoint.

rocket21 said:

Neat! Thank you for sharing! I've been eyeballing it the last few times I've been up on the loop.

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Judging from seeing some of your past trips, I'd say this is right up your alley

And on another note, after staring at it all day, I really wanna tackle the bushwhack/slide climb on the north side of Osceola. Any beta people would care to offer on that would be appreciated. PM me if you feel necessary, thanks in advance.

TDawg said:

Views became more and more spectacular the higher I got. I had one scare where I slipped on wet gravel and had to cling on for dear life on all fours to stop from sliding backwards. Scratched up my finger-tips and my shins pretty good, took a short brake here to regather after fearing a tumble. There are many spots where a fall could be disastrous, especially solo.

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Love reading about your adventures . . . you do some really neat stuff. Keep up the good work . . . but be careful out there . . . I want to continue reading TRs from you!

TDawg said:

right fork

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dom15931 said:

left fork

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Wicked cool! Arrow Slide is waaaayy more fun than the tedious trail and arguably easier.

Before you top out, and fork off to the L or R, head to the right and into the woods which are open and nice -- easy travel. You're 5 minutes or so from the summit anyway.

-Dr. Wu

Great TR. Steve Smith suggested it to me as a good way to access NW Hancock. I'll have to get after it now!

Paradox said:

Great TR. Steve Smith suggested it to me as a good way to access NW Hancock. I'll have to get after it now!

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Not this one -- the Cedar Brook Slide (sometimes called the "West Slide" I think). Arrow is basically parallel to the North Summit Loop Trail so you don't gain much ground on NW Hancock (plus you'd have to bushwhack through thick crap). However, the Cedar Brook Slide gets you about 1/2 to NW Hancock and from the top of that slide it's easy to slab along the ridge and then make your way to the summit.

I did NW Hancock by going up the Arrow to North Hancock, then bushwhacking to NW over the knife edge ridge then on the return, slabbing along the ridge to the Cedar Brook Slide. Follow that (dry stream bed) until the stream pops out of a spring.... fairly close to the trail at that point. Fun hike.

-Dr. Wu

dr_wu002 said:

Not this one -- the Cedar Brook Slide (sometimes called the "West Slide" I think). Arrow is basically parallel to the North Summit Loop Trail so you don't gain much ground on NW Hancock (plus you'd have to bushwhack through thick crap). However, the Cedar Brook Slide gets you about 1/2 to NW Hancock and from the top of that slide it's easy to slab along the ridge and then make your way to the summit.

I did NW Hancock by going up the Arrow to North Hancock, then bushwhacking to NW over the knife edge ridge then on the return, slabbing along the ridge to the Cedar Brook Slide. Follow that (dry stream bed) until the stream pops out of a spring.... fairly close to the trail at that point. Fun hike.

-Dr. Wu

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Got it. Thank you very much.

1HappyHiker said:

Love reading about your adventures . . . you do some really neat stuff. Keep up the good work . . . but be careful out there . . . I want to continue reading TRs from you!

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Thanks 1HH, I try and mix it up.

As for the "scare," I think it just freaked me out b/c of how exposed I was at that point. It was just in the middle, below the split in the slide near the top and maybe 10 yards below me was a 6 foot drop that woulda sent me out of control. Wet gravel on slab is like trying to walk on marbles.

dr_wu002 said:

Wicked cool! Arrow Slide is waaaayy more fun than the tedious trail and arguably easier.

Before you top out, and fork off to the L or R, head to the right and into the woods which are open and nice -- easy travel. You're 5 minutes or so from the summit anyway.

-Dr. Wu

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It sure is more fun Dr. Wu, I don't think I'll ever take the North loop again unless I'm with someone that isn't comfortable/experienced with that sort of exposure. Now we just need some rock work near the top of the South peak loop to make the decent less tedious.

Paradox said:

Great TR. Steve Smith suggested it to me as a good way to access NW Hancock. I'll have to get after it now!

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Thanks, I'd say get after it for North Hancock too!