NumNum
Member
On saturday my son and I set out for these two majestic peaks, we knew earlier in the week the weather was going to be iffy, and sure enough saturday morning confirmed that with heavy overcast and a drizzle that reminded me of London. We signed into the register at the Ausable Club gatehouse around 7a.m. and followed a group from Clay NY who were out for Sawteeth.
We had planned the hike based on previous posts and took the 2nd trail to Elk Pass route which was not a problem at all, maybe one section before Elk Pass that ice stabilizers would have been perfect for, but we did not have them but will in the future, as for this time we used our crampons that we ended up taking right back off after the section.
The steep section passed Elk pass had some slippery spots, not due to ice but compacted snow on rocks, in fact we passed a group of about 8 that had one hiker with a dislocated knee due to this, prime example for not hiking alone. We met up with this same party later at the register sign out and found out the injured hiker had been medivacked out.
Not much snow accumulation until after the junction with Dial and Nippletop, I would say around 4-8" toward the summit of Nippletop. The views werent the best but we had some breaks in the clouds with sun screaming to get through, this was our moment and fortunatly there was another couple from Syracuse at the top who took our pictures.
The walk over to Dial was just that, a nice walk, i think there was only one blowdown that was easily manageable. Dial is where we had better views, still over cast and really did not see the tops of the Great Range, and Marcy was not even visible either, but the valley below was a beautiful sight. We continued out via the Leach trail over Bear Den and through the fire/wind damaged col before Noonmark, this area between Bear Den and Noonmark was the only area that we found mud, and finally reaching the Lake Rd at 5p.m.
We had planned the hike based on previous posts and took the 2nd trail to Elk Pass route which was not a problem at all, maybe one section before Elk Pass that ice stabilizers would have been perfect for, but we did not have them but will in the future, as for this time we used our crampons that we ended up taking right back off after the section.
The steep section passed Elk pass had some slippery spots, not due to ice but compacted snow on rocks, in fact we passed a group of about 8 that had one hiker with a dislocated knee due to this, prime example for not hiking alone. We met up with this same party later at the register sign out and found out the injured hiker had been medivacked out.
Not much snow accumulation until after the junction with Dial and Nippletop, I would say around 4-8" toward the summit of Nippletop. The views werent the best but we had some breaks in the clouds with sun screaming to get through, this was our moment and fortunatly there was another couple from Syracuse at the top who took our pictures.
The walk over to Dial was just that, a nice walk, i think there was only one blowdown that was easily manageable. Dial is where we had better views, still over cast and really did not see the tops of the Great Range, and Marcy was not even visible either, but the valley below was a beautiful sight. We continued out via the Leach trail over Bear Den and through the fire/wind damaged col before Noonmark, this area between Bear Den and Noonmark was the only area that we found mud, and finally reaching the Lake Rd at 5p.m.
