Tag Archive for: adirondacks

Panther Gorge – The Guide Book

If you want to explore the remote Panther Gorge in the Adirondacks and get away from the crowds, this is a must-have guide. Kevin has been obsessed with this area over the last few years and has put his knowledge into a very comprehensive guide.

Panther Gorge

By Kevin “MudRat” MacKenzie

“Panther Gorge captures the adventure inherent to one of the most remote, enigmatic regions of the Adirondack High Peaks.

​Two thousand feet deep and lined with sheer cliffs, the rugged chasm sits between Marcy and Haystack, New York’s first and third highest mountains. In between the jaws of the peaks sits an intriguing set of natural curiosities: spires, talus mazes, glacial erratics, ponds, rills, and forest.” 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get it here..  https://www.adirondackmountaineering.com/panthergorgebook

“Panther Gorge is one of our great unexplored frontiers, shrouded by myth and impenetrable krummholz. Kevin has done an outstanding job chronicling this remote wilderness, not only with exhaustive research but with extensive, first-hand accounts and photography. The sheer number of climbing successes revealed in these pages leaves one slack-jawed. Panther Gorge is a culmination of Kevin’s climbing skill and tireless thirst for discovery”

– Jim Lawyer / Guidebook Author of Adirondack Rock

 

Source: adirondackmountaineering.com

Endangered Species

Video

Endangered Species from Matt McCormick on Vimeo.

On Friday January, 14. Bayard Russell, Matt Horner and I climbed a line on the “Big Wall” section of Poko-Moonshine in the Adirondacks. The line paralleled the legendary Jeff Lowe route Gorillas in the Mist which hasn’t seen a 3rd ascent since Alex Lowe and Randy Rackliff repeated it the day after the FA in 1997.

We called this new variant Endangered Species WI5+R M6+

-Matt McCormick

December 7, 2010

Winter! Here it comes…

Mike Garity on an icy Pinnacle Gully, Huntington Ravine, Mt. Washington NH - Alan Cattabriga

Mike Garity topping out on Pinnacle Gully, Huntington Ravine, Mt. Washington NH 12-05-10 - Alan Cattabriga

After the last thaw, most of the good climbing has been up high. That is about to change. After torrential rains last week the cold is back with  a vengeance. A temperature of -4 is forecast for Lake Willoughby VT Thursday night. Look for perfect ice making conditions over the next week.

StandardLine

Photo of the Week – 3/3/10

Mike Rawdon on "The White Fang", Underwood Canyon, Adirondacks, N.Y.

Mike Rawdon leading up "The White Fang", at Underwood Canyon, Adirondacks, N.Y. The route offered a spicey start for the given grade of, yup, 4+. hmmm?

Another photo of White Fang: Mike R. checking out the start. Not for everyone.

Looking up the fang.Looks steep!

-Nearing the end of the season is a bittersweet time as we get psyched for all the hard climbing being done when fitness levels reach a peak for many climbers just as the ice starts to bake in the longer, sunny days toward springtime.  Seek out those north-facing flows for safer days.  Also, don’t forget, it’s this time of year when an awesome day of plastic ice  in the morning and sunny rock in the afternoon can be done for a special two-fer day out.

Things are hot down in Southwestern Pennsylvania lately too… and we’re not talking about the temps!  Check out Ian Austin’s steep new route,“Double-A” which the duo have given a WI6.

Then there’s the wild projects the crew is working on down there! Check out Joe Torretti getting after it!   A Meadow Run project

Mountainfest Report 2010

Mountainfest 2010The 14th annual Adirondack International Mountainfest was held on January 15-17, 2010.

This year’s event featured a slide show by blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and world-class alpinist Steve House.  Steve is traveling the Northeast promoting his new book “Beyond The Mountain”. Steve said “this is my first and last book, I put everything I have into it” I look forward to reading it.

The Guest athletes  Steve House, Jim Shimberg and local guides Chuck Boyd, Emilie Drinkwater, Jeremy Haas, Carl Heilman, Matt Horner, Chad Kennedy, Colin Loher, Don Mellor and Jim Pitarresi  and Lori Crowingshield lead instructional clinics on ice climbing, mountaineering, snowshoeing and avalanche awareness . The weather was perfect and the participants enjoyed learning to ice climb and push the limits.

True to Mountainfest tradition of establishing new climbs, Matt McCormick and Bayard Russell opened up “Bossman” (M9-230′) on the High Falls Crag in Williminton Notch. This section of cliff had repelled many of the best climbers recently, including Steve House. More on this exceptional climb…

Many thanks to The Mountaineer,  Rock and River and everyone involved for all your hard work that make this festival a great success. Over the last 14 years the festival has raised more than $70,000 for the school, fire department and other local community causes. Thank  you

Enjoy these photos from the Mountainfest

Photos by  Jim Pitarresi & Doug Millen
[nggallery id=9]

Mountaineer Storerock and river logo

The Bossman

The Bossman

Bayard Russell & Matt McCormick

were crushing it in the “Dacks” during Mountainfest

True to Mountainfest tradition of establishing new climbs, Matt McCormick and Bayard Russell opened up “The Bossman” (M9) on the High Falls Crag in Wilmington Notch. This section of cliff had repelled some of the best ice climbers in North America recently, including Maxime Turgeon, LP Menard and Steve House.

“The Bossman (M9, 3 pitches) follows a single, continuous crack for 230 feet. The first pitch climbs technical, steep terrain on turf shots and thin pick torques. Pitch 2 contains the crux, an extremely reachy move with chickenscratch for feet. The last, short pitch corkscrews behind a minor icicle then “worms out” onto the ice” – Matt McCormick

“I whined a little bit starting the first pitch, on unbonded thin ice, but pounded a specter hook in some turf and muckled up onto a ledge anyway” – Bayard Russell

See Alpinist.com for more on this climb and Bayards blog Cathedral Style

More on Matt and Bayard – Astro Turff / The Painted Wall Icicle / Strippers

Mountainfest 2010

 The 14th annual Adirondack International Mountainfest takes place this Weekend – January 15-17, 2010

This year’s event will kick off with a slide show by blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer on Friday night. Saturday’s speaker will be world-class alpinist Steve House, and Sunday’s entertainment is Bill Pelkey. Guest athletes Steve House and Jim Shimberg will join local guides Chuck Boyd, Emilie Drinkwater, Jeremy Haas, Carl Heilman, Matt Horner, Chad Kennedy, Colin Loher, Don Mellor and Jim Pitarresi to lead instructional clinics on ice climbing, mountaineering, snowshoeing and avalanche awareness on Saturday and Sunday.

See the Mountaineers web site for more information

Get A Job – 1/3/10

Matt-Mccormick-get_a_job_1-3-09b

Matt McCormick on “Get a Job”. Poke-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks NY  1-3-2010
Photo by MGB-VT

The Trilogy, Adirondacks NY

The North Face of Gothics, Grand Central on Marcy and Colden’s Trap Dike in a day.

by Emilie Drinkwater

Emilie

My decision to try the “Trilogy” was made on a Sunday afternoon, March 15th. Inspired by recent link-up activity in the Northeast (Alan Cattabriga’s Trifecta in NH and Joe Szot’s Adirondack Trilogy), I decided that conditions wouldn’t get any better for my own attempt at the Trilogy. This link-up starts on the North Face of Gothics and continues up and over Saddleback, Basin, and the shoulder of Little Haystack, dropping into Panther Gorge, ascending a line called Grand Central to the summit of Marcy, down Marcy, into Avalanche Lake, up Colden’s Trap Dike, down the backside and out.

I started this adventure at 4:30am on Monday morning (March 16th) with a two-mile uphill bike ride from Keene Valley to the Garden trailhead (having dropped my car at the Adirondack Loj the night before, I didn’t want to ask anyone to drive me anywhere at 4am). I started the actual Trilogy at 5:02am and was determined to ski as much as possible, as I had opted not to bring snowshoes and hate walking in crampons. The first mile and a half was slow going and I probably took my skis on and off fifteen times to cross large patches of bare ground or ice. Eventually the snow became more consistent and I was able to move quickly, reaching the base of the North Face at first light.

Choosing a line to the far right on the North Face allowed a straightforward ascent to the summit, which I reached at 8:30am. Little did I know, the difficult part of the day was only just beginning; having never been on this section of the Range Trail, I was under the impression that I would be following a ridgeline all the way to Little Haystack. Wrong! In fact, this section of trail descends and ascends each of those peaks and includes a section of steep, open rock that seemed to be in the range of 3rd or 4th class climbing (at least in ski boots and crampons). In addition to now feeling very sluggish in the legs, this down-climb had slowed the pace significantly.
I continued plodding toward Little Haystack, skiing sections on occasion, but mostly walking (skis on my back) on packed trail, all while snagging the skis on every overhead branch and limb, wasting energy climbing over and under downed trees. At last I started to get views of Marcy’s impressive south face and the remote Panther Gorge below. Having never been on this section of trail, let alone anywhere near Panther Gorge, I knew my only hope of getting in there would be following the tracks of Joe and his partner, four days prior. Sure enough, just past the Slant Rock/Marcy Trail intersection, I spotted a faint set of tracks heading into the Gorge. I nervously followed the tracks (these guys had wisely put snowshoes on for this section) down into the abyss of Panther Gorge. Almost immediately, I lost their trail and started desperately postholing. Panicked and exhausted by dropping into waist deep spruce holes (for more than 45 minutes at this point), I started to regret bringing skis instead of snowshoes. The skis caught on everything and what branches they didn’t break, they instead shook thousands of pine needles down my back. I knew turning around and postholing out would be more difficult than what I’d just come through, so I made the conscious decision to continue, hoping to make it to some feature that would take me up and out to the relatively open slopes of Marcy’s south face. Only minutes later, I regained Joe’s tracks (and the greatest sense of relief ever!), and followed them up a short, steep step into the Grand Central gully. The sunny, openness of this snow gully was fantastic, but my legs were now so tired that I was reduced to taking 50 steps followed by 30-second rests. I had also long since run out of water and had been forced to fill a water bottle from a dripping icicle; I did treat the water but probably not for long enough… hopefully I won’t have giardia next week!

I reached the summit of Mt. Marcy at about 3:30pm. Sadly, somewhere in my Panther Gorge struggle, my watch had set itself back an entire hour, leading me to believe it was 2:30pm at the summit. Suspicious of the sun’s location in the sky, I checked my cell phone and discovered the mistake. Feeling pressured for time, I put my skis on and immediately started my descent on the Marcy ski trail. It should be noted that Joe’s descent from the summit of Marcy took the Feldspar/Lake Tear trail down to Lake Colden, whereas my descent (because I chose to ski) took me down to Marcy Dam (a mere two miles from my car), in approximately 35 minutes. From here I headed back up into Avalanche Lake and, for the first time in the day, felt so happy to have skis, which were faster and allowed my legs some recovery time.


I reached the base of the Trap Dike at about 5:15pm and because of its western aspect, the sun beating down was warm and bright as if it were noon. I took a quick break here to eat some sugar-laden, caffeine-laced snacks, and I started back uphill again with a second wind. Tired of listening to my heart race, I pulled out the ipod to get through the last tedious section of the Trilogy, and was spurred along by such motivational classics as Eye of the Tiger and The Final Countdown. Despite this, my legs were so tired that I had been further reduced to 10 steps followed by 30-second rests.

I reached Mt. Colden’s summit at about 7:15pm, just as the sun was setting. Fear of missing the Lake Arnold trail off Colden’s summit in the dark, made me move quickly and I reached Lake Arnold before I needed my headlamp. From this point, I was able to ski the snowshoe trench out to Marcy Dam and from the Dam to the Loj, reaching the parking lot at 8:44pm.
15 hours, 42 minutes, my final time (unless I’ve done the math wrong, which wouldn’t be surprising). I went into this with low expectations, never trying to be faster than Joe, only hoping to finish at all. I like to remind myself that this Trilogy was never my vision only something that seemed like a good challenge. I believe that conditions couldn’t have been better and having a track to follow was indispensable. While I may not be at my fittest, an extensive endurance background did finally pay off. And, when Jan Wellford recovers from a broken pelvis, you can bet that my time will be crushed as well!

–Emilie Drinkwater, 3/19/09

Emilie is owner/guide; Cloudsplitter Mountain Guides in Keene Valley NY. www.cloudsplitterguides.com