A quick roadtrip

With this past week off I had kinda wanted to get away for a few days and do some skiing in new places. Sadly the weather kept acting up on days I had picked to “travel” so a longer road trip wasn’t in the cards. Add to that the already stated “weather” dropped some of the best snow of the season here in town and I wanted to get in on some of that so I wasn’t too motivated to leave town. Still, seemed a shame not to get some time away so I loaded up the car and drove down to Lake Placid on Wednesday. The drive down was pretty nice when I started – sunny and clear roads but as I got to Saranac Lake the snow started to fall and by the time got to the South Meadow road (my ski destination) it was belting down with snow. Grabbed a pack and my wide boards and headed out for what I thought would be a little tour. Didn’t even grab a camera as I figured I’d be back in less than an hour and there wouldn’t be much to see. Four hours later I had toured through some great trails – most of which are “skiing only” (across bogs and up stream beds) so I haven’t been able to walk on them in the summer. The snow pounded down while I skied so the powder conditions were great. I would estimate 10-12 inches fell in the four hours I was out and about. The only drawback was that the plow had been by while I was out and I had to shovel my car out upon my return… not too big a deal and well worth the price of admission for a day in the fresh snow.

Snowy, windy Lake Placid
Thursday dawned clear and cooold! At -25F it seemed to be ridiculous to head outside but there was not a breath of wind so in fact it was quite nice. That said I drove around getting a few errands done (and letting it warm up) before heading up to the Garden trailhead to get a hike in. Chose to climb Big Slide mountain which has some stunning views of the Great Range. A couple of groups had signed in ahead of me so I didn’t even have to break trail. Breaking trail proved not to be much of a problem as it turns out Wednesdays storm was very localized. Here in the eastern high peaks there was only about 1 inch of fresh snow down so trail breaking wasn’t a big deal. The trail climbs steeply from the get go so in no time I was removing several layers even though it was about -12C at this point. Shortly after that I crested the first ridges and the views opened up. Brilliant blue skies and a warm sun greeted me and the next few tricky scrambles up the ridge line were easy enough in the softening snow. Even the final climb up to the summit – which is a doozy – wasn’t too bad and the snowshoes were more than up for the challenge. I had met both groups that had signed in ahead of me about halfway up the trail and on the summit met another guy who was camping in the valley. He had come up with his buddies but stayed on the summit alone for about 3 hours basking in the sun on this windless day. Can’t say I blame him and I too spent about 45 minutes which – for winter – is a long time.

The winding trail from one "Brother" to the next. "Giant" dominates the background
Finally time to head down, I learned the joys of the butt slide. The last 1/3 of a mile to the summit is pretty steep and a little sketchy (about 400 vertical feet). It took me – with a picture stop halfway – about 12 minutes to trudge up making sure to firmly plant the snowshoes lest I backslide down the trail. On my way up I noted some beautiful vistas off behind me and decided I should stop on the way down and take a few photos. That plan was dashed as the return trip down – 1/3 of a mile and all – took about 30s on a riotously fun luge ride (sans luge)down. Zoooooooom! Those pictures will have to wait for another day.

The classic "slide face" photo on Big Slide. Should have taken a few more shots on the way up
The walk out was pretty nice. For the first time on this peak (this being my third or fourth trip) I chose to walk back along the same ridgeline as I had come in on rather than make a loop and drop down into the valley. That proved to be a good choice. Lots of good views to be had on the return trip and better light in the fading afternoon sun. Another good hike in the books on what proved to be a perfect day in spite of its frigid start.

Last of the views on the way down