Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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Bottle Slide- a real gem.
The Bottle Slide on Giant Mountain constitutes a true Adirondack gem and fully embodies my idea of a true wilderness experience. I wanted to do this slide as a prelude to the Eagle which is 10% steeper according to Topo!
We (myself, Claudia and Wayne - Ebbinghaus of Tabletop-Phelps bushwhack fame) left the Roaring Brook Parking area at 7:30 on 08-13. Claudia had copied, longhand, the page from Mellor's book and was equipped with a map where 1000 meters equalled about 3 inches. We all had our trusty compasses. Also, I had uploaded wp's directly from an aerial view of the slide and the "route" to it. I also had printed a map from TOPO! after transferring in those same wp's. So, armed with all of these navigational aids off we went. We warmed up over a mile of trail before heading into the rough. For a fair while we followed the faintest of herd trails along flat terrain until the line of least resistance led us into the drainage where we stayed for a long while. The slide commences at about 3700 feet and I kept glancing at our elevation which increased very slowly.
We were nearing a split in the drainage (right for Eagle Slide, left for the Bottle) when the conversation became so interesting that I clean forgot to check my gps and we missed the split which must be very subtle indeed. We were only 300 feet beyond it but decided to Ad Lib our way back to our desired line. This found us up on a ridge between the two drainages which run parallel for a good distance. We stuck with the ridge (more like a bulge) which avoided a dogleg in the creek and a downclimb. Here the going was arduous but enjoyable as we approached the slide base. Quite steep now with no shortage of blowdown even if fairly open. The hundredths of a mile decreased slowly but decrease they did.
We came out of the thick just below the slide, I had placed my WP a tad low based on the imagery, and after arriving on the slide I repositioned the WP.
What a slide! Wide, clean and steep, but not overly steep. And the views! We were in hiker heaven all the way up stopping to drink in the views and identify the peaks which kept cropping up as we ascended. We spent an hour on the slide then came to a cliff which guards the summit ridge. We kept heading right and going up along the faintest of herd trails and over some rock steps. We could have topped out more quickly but we wanted to avoid any exposure so our route off the slide to the summit was a bit convoluted.
Eschewing the summit crowd we lunched and imbibed the fine views from the sub summit just to the North before heading down to the parking lot and a most refreshing swim in Chapel Pond.
I'll post some pictures soon. My camera lens was all fogged up due to my carrying it in my pants pocket so most of my pics didn't turn out. Wayne will be sending me his and I'll post all of what I have then.
In the meantime here's your's truly taking in his daily ration of paradise.
The Bottle Slide on Giant Mountain constitutes a true Adirondack gem and fully embodies my idea of a true wilderness experience. I wanted to do this slide as a prelude to the Eagle which is 10% steeper according to Topo!
We (myself, Claudia and Wayne - Ebbinghaus of Tabletop-Phelps bushwhack fame) left the Roaring Brook Parking area at 7:30 on 08-13. Claudia had copied, longhand, the page from Mellor's book and was equipped with a map where 1000 meters equalled about 3 inches. We all had our trusty compasses. Also, I had uploaded wp's directly from an aerial view of the slide and the "route" to it. I also had printed a map from TOPO! after transferring in those same wp's. So, armed with all of these navigational aids off we went. We warmed up over a mile of trail before heading into the rough. For a fair while we followed the faintest of herd trails along flat terrain until the line of least resistance led us into the drainage where we stayed for a long while. The slide commences at about 3700 feet and I kept glancing at our elevation which increased very slowly.
We were nearing a split in the drainage (right for Eagle Slide, left for the Bottle) when the conversation became so interesting that I clean forgot to check my gps and we missed the split which must be very subtle indeed. We were only 300 feet beyond it but decided to Ad Lib our way back to our desired line. This found us up on a ridge between the two drainages which run parallel for a good distance. We stuck with the ridge (more like a bulge) which avoided a dogleg in the creek and a downclimb. Here the going was arduous but enjoyable as we approached the slide base. Quite steep now with no shortage of blowdown even if fairly open. The hundredths of a mile decreased slowly but decrease they did.
We came out of the thick just below the slide, I had placed my WP a tad low based on the imagery, and after arriving on the slide I repositioned the WP.
What a slide! Wide, clean and steep, but not overly steep. And the views! We were in hiker heaven all the way up stopping to drink in the views and identify the peaks which kept cropping up as we ascended. We spent an hour on the slide then came to a cliff which guards the summit ridge. We kept heading right and going up along the faintest of herd trails and over some rock steps. We could have topped out more quickly but we wanted to avoid any exposure so our route off the slide to the summit was a bit convoluted.
Eschewing the summit crowd we lunched and imbibed the fine views from the sub summit just to the North before heading down to the parking lot and a most refreshing swim in Chapel Pond.
I'll post some pictures soon. My camera lens was all fogged up due to my carrying it in my pants pocket so most of my pics didn't turn out. Wayne will be sending me his and I'll post all of what I have then.
In the meantime here's your's truly taking in his daily ration of paradise.
