Adirondack Winter Wonderland: Algonquin and Iroquois – 2/10/2018

Mountain Crew,

**Head over to the gallery to see photos from the winter hike!

Brace yourselves for the first Adirondack adventure post on To Summit Up! I had been itching to get back to hike in the Adirondacks, as my previous hike in one of my favorite regions dates back to October. The past few winters have been filled with a few winter hikes and I find that they offer quite a unique and humbling prospective to their beauty when compared to summer hikes. All seasons have their beauty and bliss and the mountains enhance our senses to the perks of each one. I needed to get back. Hiking buddies in the winter are a must and I ended up getting college friends Wil and Neil to commit to the challenge of hiking in the Adirondacks during the winter. Wil and I have done many Adirondack peaks (some in all seasons) but Neil had never been to the Adirondacks – and man was he in for an experience and a half.

Neil met me in Rochester, NY and we drove to Albany, NY after work on Friday 2/9/18 where we would meet Wil , who drove up from Brooklyn. We stayed the night there and embarked north early in the morning on 2/10/18, making sure to stop at my favorite bagel place along the northway (I-87 north of Albany), Lox of Bagels and Moor in Queensbury, NY. Fueled and loaded with excitement, we continued on to the High Peaks region. Neil did not have snowshoes so we made a pit stop in Keene Valley at the Mountaineer. If you were to give me a day to spend in that store, I’d for sure buy half of the place. Aside from killer apparel, hats, coats, and gloves (I could continue this list for days…),  they offer snowshoe rentals – a nice perk of the region for those who don’t have them. Off to the Adirondack Loj we went. The Loj is one of a few trail head conglomeration points along Route 73 beyond the many individual trail heads located along the road itself. We were originally going to take on Street and Nye Mountains but in classic Neil fashion, he indicated that he wanted to start off his Adirondack experience with a bang when Wil brought up the other hikes available out of the Loj. We were to do Algonquin (2nd highest in NY) and Iroquois (8th highest in NY). Wil and I had previously done Algonquin (actually my first winter hike ever two years back), but neither of us had done Iroquois. We committed.

The day was cloudy and called for some snow in the afternoon. We began our journey around 9:45 AM (a little later than we had originally hoped). The trail was pretty well packed at the start of the hike – a condition that would change as we rose in elevation.

Heading to Algonquin from the Adirondack Loj

We weaved up Algonquin and breathed in the fresh air. In the trees, there was very little wind and the hiking kept us pretty warm. Neil and I strapped into our snowshoes a short way up the mountain while Wil maintained his desire to wear microspikes.

Neil Fearlessly Leading the Pack

Eventually, we rose to the treeline and had our first glimpse of the chaos that we would soon endure. We layered and zipped up in preparation for the visible whiteout at the peak.

Locked In and Ready to Experience Algonquin’s Peak

For Neil’s first high peak experience, he sure had some great peak views (sarcasm involved here…)!

Summit Views near the Peak of Algonquin

Although there weren’t any views, the conditions and our time around the peak was actually really, really cool. Winds were whipping and were likely 40mph-60mph with whiteout visibility conditions. We were on high alert and it quickly became apparent that teamwork and mountaineering would be essential to ensure our safety on top of the mountain. We ran into a larger group at the peak of Algonquin and decided to tag along with them, as they had someone with a GPS and intentions of making it safely to both Algonquin and Iroquois. The trails at the exposed peaks are marked by rock structures called cairns, which are in place to lead you to the right spot when entering/exiting the peak region. The cairns were coated in a thick layer of ice and snow and were difficult to find with the low visibility that we had. Our large group worked a system of leap frog in which a few hikers would venture to find the next cairn while a few would remain at the previous cairn until the next destination was found. All the while everyone else was dispersed between to ensure visibility of everyone.

Low Visibility Conditions on Top of Algonquin

We eventually made it over Algonquin and began our trek through the saddle between Algonquin and Iroquois. A bit less traveled, the trail had noticeably more snow to trek through.

Snow Covered Trees and Powder Path

Iroquois was much like Algonquin in that we didn’t really have any views, but the trails below the treeline were still really beautiful. We began our descent towards Avalanche Pass – a route that would allow us to walk the valley back rather than re-peaking Algonquin for an out-and-back. The route down Iroquois certainly had its fair share of chutes for butt slides (the most effective method for getting down quickly in the winter)!

Steep Section Best Traveled via Butt Slide

We got to the valley and found ourselves at Avalanche Lake. I had only been to the lake in the spring/summer, so I was always accustomed to traveling the lake’s edge to get around. Hiking this section in the winter was amazing because we were able to trek right across the middle of the lake! Literally no up and down for this stretch! We were walking on water!

Wil and Avalanche Lake

Off of Mount Colden, there is the Trap Dyke – a break in the rocks that some people ski down in the winter. We got a great view of this as we traversed the lake and saw some ski tracks as well.

Trap Dyke off of Mount Colden

Eventually we finished our hike around 6:45 PM and headed to Lake Placid Brewery for some well-deserved brews and warm food to cap off a great day. We stayed Saturday night at a bed and breakfast near Lake Champlain and headed back to our respective cities on Sunday. As always, the Adirondacks provided another great experience that saw incredible teamwork and planning to get the job done.

-Ryan

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