Alternate route to Marshall?

[Keith Z]

Looking at a map, and then hiking the trail from Upper Works to Flowwed Lands, my son and I thought it unusual that there is no herd path coming from the south, up a brook in a depression, not too far from where the trail from Indian Pass meets the U.W. trail. Has anybody done this? It might be a good summer try for us, but we didn't dare try it in winter. Any reason why not? It seems as if we had to half circle the mountain before we headed up Herbert Brook.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[KZKlimber]

Alternate route from Indian Pass

Marshall has been done via Indian Pass to Algonquin Pass. A bushwhack from the top of the Algonquin pass leads to Marshall. I have never done this route but have read about it. I seriously doubt it is broken in winter.

 

[Rick]

I seem to recall a group of either the Rochester Winter Mountaineer Club (RWMC) that had attempted this climb 3-4 years ago and if I recall correctly they were turned back - I'll talk to a couple of buddies not regularly on this board and see if I can glean more information.

 

[JimB]

Last winter someone did a trip report on climbing Marshall from the slide that is visible as you come from Upper Works. It seems that the hardest part was hitting the slide. Maybe they still lurk here. It seems that they ascended one of the brooks that cross the Calamity Brook trail. Maybe some time with a map(gps?) would help you determine which one. Good luck.

 

[Johnnycakes]

A friend and I hiked up the slide last winter. Finding the slide was actually pretty straight forward. One could simply hike up the tributary that drains Marshall's southwest side. It can be accessed where it flows into Calamity Brook. In fact, the trail crosses this tributary. When we hiked it last year, we did not want to trespass so we continued on the trail to the property boundary and then backtracked along the boundary until we hit the tributary. This made the trip a little longer and brought us through a few areas of downed logs, but nothing too bad. With the new land purchase by the State of New York (or is it The Nature Conservancy) it may now be legal to head directly up the tributary from the trail.

The hike up the slide went very quickly. The hike from the top of the slide to the summit was a bear. The growth was very thick. We made sure the Herbery Brook route was broken out before we did the trip so we wouldn't have to descend down the slide. The slide does have avalanche potential, but my friend had a shovel, saw, etc. and was fairly well trained in assessing avalanche potential. He deemed it safe to travel on at the time, but you'll definitely want to stop and assess the situation.

John

 

[Tom H]

try this one

Mark Lowell and I climbed Marshall from the 3rd Calamity Brook crossing a few years back. Just before the crossing, simply start heading up and to the left, angling in a NNE direction up the mountain. Eventually you will enter a large valley that goes up NW to the col, then NE up to the W end of the Marshall summit ridge. We found this route to be quite interesting and not difficult. I would definitely recommend it as a late winter hike when snow is deep and well-consolidated. We actually did it in late April when the snow down low was a bit sketchy and the snow on the last push to the summit was pretty much melted due to southern exposure. A fine climb.