prino
New member
Allen on Skis and Foot
After Saturday's incredible day of hiking in the Santanoni's with many a friend from this Forum, I wondered what I could do for an encore on Sunday. Well I knew it was going to be another sunny day and I thought while I was down this way and had my back country skis with me, thought I'd give Allen a shot.
The plan was just to get out and enjoy a ski as far as the Opalescent and see if the river was still safe and passable. A comment in the register from the day before "river OK to cross" had my hopes up.
I left the trailhead at 7-38am without Lester or anyone else for that matter. The temperature was 14 deg f. The snow was frozen but the crust breakable with my steel edged skis. There was still snow packed onto the bridge over the Hudson, but there was no way I was going to risk skiing it so off they came. From there on it was plain sailing on the speedy snow, most of the time skate skiing or double poling. I arrived at the Opalescent 48 minutes later and followed the signs to the rerouted crossing.
Although there were a few small open areas of water (fast and shallow) the main bulk of the river was frozen. (see pictures)
From the river it was just another 1/2 hr to the famous ALLEN sign, which has now been joined (it wasn't there in August 07) soon to become famous MARCY sign.
Another 5 minutes and I was in the large clearing past the private road. The next stretch was a slog uphill but looked like it would be a good ski down so I decided to keep the skis with me. At one point the trail gets narrower and still steepish, this would have been a good place to ditch the skiis, but knowing I was passing thru private land decided to keep them with me till Skylight brook. Didn't want to lose anymore equipment to irate landowners.... but that's another story.
After ditching the skiis at 10-00am at Skylight it was an easy bareboot up to Allen brook on the well packed trail.
Arriving at Allen brook on the winter trail seemed very different to the last time I was there on a very hot day in August of 07. There was no sign of the waterfall on the short drop into the river gulley and the trail started straight up for the slide. I had a short break and ate and drank a little before starting the steep climb. The trail was well broken and very firm. I was able to bare boot with no chance of postholeing and there was 1/4" of broken ice on the surface of the unbroken snow.
I made it to the summit just after 11-30am and spent a good 25 minutes on top chillin out taking in the peaks.... the views were fantastic in all directions. The temperature was climbing now too and the ice was falling off the trees at an ever increasing rate. I was glad I had found some sun lotion in the car before setting off as the sun was pounding down relentlessly.
I had reluctantly decided as I came up the slide, that crampons rather than buttsliding would be the order of the day going down. Otherwise I could see me hitting 50mph and perhaps 3 or 4 trees on that icy crust (see videos).
The hike down was fairly uneventful and I picked up my skis at 1-00pm, crossed back across the river.... still thankfully nice and solid despite the rising temps.
I was back at the trailhead at 3-30pm. Time to head back to Aunt Polly's for a beer or two.
I never thought I would say that I would enjoy doing Allen again, but I did....very much!
Pictures
Slideshow
After Saturday's incredible day of hiking in the Santanoni's with many a friend from this Forum, I wondered what I could do for an encore on Sunday. Well I knew it was going to be another sunny day and I thought while I was down this way and had my back country skis with me, thought I'd give Allen a shot.
The plan was just to get out and enjoy a ski as far as the Opalescent and see if the river was still safe and passable. A comment in the register from the day before "river OK to cross" had my hopes up.
I left the trailhead at 7-38am without Lester or anyone else for that matter. The temperature was 14 deg f. The snow was frozen but the crust breakable with my steel edged skis. There was still snow packed onto the bridge over the Hudson, but there was no way I was going to risk skiing it so off they came. From there on it was plain sailing on the speedy snow, most of the time skate skiing or double poling. I arrived at the Opalescent 48 minutes later and followed the signs to the rerouted crossing.
Although there were a few small open areas of water (fast and shallow) the main bulk of the river was frozen. (see pictures)
From the river it was just another 1/2 hr to the famous ALLEN sign, which has now been joined (it wasn't there in August 07) soon to become famous MARCY sign.
Another 5 minutes and I was in the large clearing past the private road. The next stretch was a slog uphill but looked like it would be a good ski down so I decided to keep the skis with me. At one point the trail gets narrower and still steepish, this would have been a good place to ditch the skiis, but knowing I was passing thru private land decided to keep them with me till Skylight brook. Didn't want to lose anymore equipment to irate landowners.... but that's another story.
After ditching the skiis at 10-00am at Skylight it was an easy bareboot up to Allen brook on the well packed trail.
Arriving at Allen brook on the winter trail seemed very different to the last time I was there on a very hot day in August of 07. There was no sign of the waterfall on the short drop into the river gulley and the trail started straight up for the slide. I had a short break and ate and drank a little before starting the steep climb. The trail was well broken and very firm. I was able to bare boot with no chance of postholeing and there was 1/4" of broken ice on the surface of the unbroken snow.
I made it to the summit just after 11-30am and spent a good 25 minutes on top chillin out taking in the peaks.... the views were fantastic in all directions. The temperature was climbing now too and the ice was falling off the trees at an ever increasing rate. I was glad I had found some sun lotion in the car before setting off as the sun was pounding down relentlessly.
I had reluctantly decided as I came up the slide, that crampons rather than buttsliding would be the order of the day going down. Otherwise I could see me hitting 50mph and perhaps 3 or 4 trees on that icy crust (see videos).
The hike down was fairly uneventful and I picked up my skis at 1-00pm, crossed back across the river.... still thankfully nice and solid despite the rising temps.
I was back at the trailhead at 3-30pm. Time to head back to Aunt Polly's for a beer or two.
I never thought I would say that I would enjoy doing Allen again, but I did....very much!
Pictures
Slideshow
