LWJ via Bennies Left hand Slide

[daxegraphix]

The Left side has a considerable bushwack (cripplewhack) at the top so I never intended to exit and find the trail. It's more fun to come back down the slide when possible, rather than hiking back down the trail.
That's why I ditched my snowshoes, poles, extra water at the base of the slide. That's why I also made the pre determination to only go as high as I could safely climb back down from.
This slide is always icy. There's a lot of water flowing under there. Because of that, the ice formations are always amazing. The falls and holes are these huge gentle swells that flow down the mountain. The colors are also amazing.
This year because of some snow covering here and there, there wasn't a lot of blue ice. But there is a lot of brown and gold ice. It seems to come off the top layer as it melts on a warm and windy day. There's little ripples like corregated cardboard and streaks of gold running down the falls.
Most of the slide up to the Y is a pretty easy walk albeit a thick layer of glare ice for a half mile or whatever it is.
The left side, as I mentioned in the Trail report, gets steep quickly--and is ice covered the whole way. It is pretty spectacular and a little, no a lot, unnerving. While you can scout out little veins of snow on the edges of the steep parts (which I did), falling down would probably involve some serious HMO paperwork.
Anyway, I got up to within 50 feet of the rock wall and decided that I already had enough backwards down climbing to do without going any higher.
I got used to it pretty quick. It's kind of cool to be looking through your ankles at the valley without having to tilt your head down.
All in all, with a second person or maybe two real axes instead of my poser "mountaineering ax" , I'll get to the top of this one someday.

Lot of fun, highly recommend it to persons who are more comfortable with this kind of thing than I am.

 

[mavs00]

Cool report........ Last time I was at Bennies, I toyed with the idea of "going left" but didn't. My incredibly long list of "wanna hikes" will probably prevent me from getting back in there too soon. But if I do, I'd liekt try that route. I'd likely go 3-season though, not really into winter slide climbing yet.

Thanks

 

[Gandalf]

Nice report! Sounds like a blast.

Somehow I never even saw the left fork in the slide when I climbed it, and wondered which half I was climbing the last few hundred feet. If it's just as steep as the right but considerably longer I'm glad I didn't go the wrong way...and that was in the summer!

The trail from the NE side of the mountain doesn't come too close to the false summit, does it? I'd imagine it could be a pretty hairy bushwhack to the trail.

 

[Pete Hogan]

Great TR and follow-up

daxegraphix,

Glad you made it out safely! Your description of the ice colors and formations of the slide are terrific and speak to your artistic background. I especially enjoyed this characterization:

It's kind of cool to be looking through your ankles at the valley without having to tilt your head down.

Although my day pales in comparison to yours, I was very happy to return safely to the Wolf Jaws col after descending that challenging route from the Upper Wolf Jaws ridge. The journey has always been my destination, but yesterday (when I first reached Wolf Jaws Notch and was within my time parameters), I started to ascend the unbroken Range Trail with the thought that if I felt my safety was compromised in any way, I would simply call it a day. (Famous last words!)

Each successful ascent of the multiple ice flows and ledges brought me closer to the east peak and I fell into my own trap of continuing a little further (hoping that the route would "even out" and become less of a hazard). It didn’t until I reached the lesser peak and as I said in my trip report, I was almost turned back at 4040’ -- just before reaching the ridge with a (seemingly) impassable shelf. I've only descended this way in summer following a Pyramid, Gothics, Armstrong, UWJ traverse. The slope angle in summer is fairly routine for ADK High Peaks summit trails. A solo winter hike presents a whole different set of circumstances.

As I sit here in the comfort of my home, tired and sore from yesterday, I have to ask myself, "at what price?" The ends have never justified the means with me so success does not necessarily justify the risk. In retrospect, I did feel in control on the ascent and could have easily bagged the day on several occasions. However, I did underestimate the severity of the descent and potential consequences - especially on a solo hike.

Anyhow, I'm sitting here eating Noon Mark Diner raisin toast and that can't all be bad!

Glad to have met you! Happy Trails!

Pete

 

[daxegraphix]

belated

I've just now on Sunday read the threads. If you guys do those slides in summer, I think you would be comfortable on this left side in winter.
The traction provided by crampons on the snowy ice is 100% more reassuring to me than sneakers are on bare granite.
I found myself going up sections with ease that would give me fits in bare rock conditions. Amazing what a little sense of security will do for my confidence. (In fact, I'd like to tag along with some climbers who scramble up the bare rock just to see that it is possible to cruise up these parts without hemming and hawing.)