Skiing in the Daks

[snoskier]

I am starting this topic as I plan on going up to the Daks this year for some winter camping / skiing. I wanted to see if anyone has any experience or advice. (Johnnylaw?) I am familiar with the Daks and will be a 46er by this winter. I know the basic e.g. Angel slides ect. But if any one has good first time suggestions let me know.

 

 

Snoskier.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Well, the amount of Mountains in the Adirondacks is limited. You best choices are the obvious 2, Gore and Whiteface. I haven't been to Whiteface, but Gore is about as legit as it gets, and I went before they added Burnt Ridge. If you luck out and hit it on a powder day, there are tons of trees. Plus, they really don't mind you going off piste. When I was there 3 years ago there were signs off the side of random trails that said "Caution, Ski Patrol Boundary, Ski at your Own Risk" So, from that standpoint, the mountain had good lift service and great cruisers. Twister is still my favorite trail in the Northeast.

[Johnny Law]

I am starting this topic as I plan on going up to the Daks this year for some winter camping / skiing. I wanted to see if anyone has any experience or advice. (Johnnylaw?) I am familiar with the Daks and will be a 46er by this winter. I know the basic e.g. Angel slides ect. But if any one has good first time suggestions let me know.

 

 

Snoskier.

 

Congrats on becoming a 46er, that's a ton of work and you should be proud of such an accomplishment.

 

Skiing in the Daks is tricky, they get alot of snow and generally its quite cold however what your going to find is that timing is everything. Tuesday it may be 8" of fresh and by Wednesday morning it can all be a block of ice. Additionally there is a distinct lack of beta when compared to the more popular Whites and Greens.

 

This website is as good as it gets as it is quite accurate as to snow depths in the high peak area - http://www.lakeplacid.com/shared/whattodo/conditions-xc.cfm. This website is ok but mostly inaccurate - http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/sno...snow_depth.html. NOHRSC stuff is really good in terms of what is going on in the snow pack such as water density, wind and sublimation. The MVAN6 station id is Van Hovenberg and in my experience is the best for determining the shallowest snow pack your going to find in the High Peaks. Basically if MVAN is reporting depths lower than 12" your going to be doing some walking on dirt from the Loj to Marcy Dam. I've found that overall the NOHRSC stations tend to under report snow pack depth in the Daks. However if you want to know what is going on weather wise and wither your getting pow or ice this data is vital.

 

For the first time the High Peaks region makes the most sense and I would go out of the Loj rather than the garden lot. There is great skiing around Camp Peggy O'brien and Gothics but its not as obvious as the stuff out of the Loj and it tends to melt out faster. Let your experience in terms of winter camping dictate when you go, if you have alot of experience you can do the Dec-March overnight stuff but be really careful as I'm sure you know that when storms blow through the High Peaks get really freaking cold. If not I would start with day trips in the peak season and save the overnight stuff for March and April when its a bit warmer.

 

Number one thing in the Daks is to travel light, the distances your covering are substantial and skiing equipment adds 20 pounds or so on its own so you have to keep everything else in the 20 pound range and then dump the weight at lean-tos so you can move uphill with say 20 pounds max. With 20 pounds you can really move and fatigue becomes less of a factor. Your very experienced so I'm sure you have this down but there is big difference between doing stuff when its 70 and when its 20 and howling.

 

Once you got all that sorted out I would go for the big dogs first. The slides are cool but require lots of reconnaissance as they far more often unskiable due to downed logs, ICE and avy danger. Really the slides are were you going to have to worry about avy's the most, they don't go alot but people have been hurt and killed. If you have to do the slides first go for the ones off Wright as you can stay at the Marcy leen-tos and your close to the ranger if things go poorly.

 

First time I would go Marcy though, its big, its impressive and the skiing is top of the top if you get it at the right time. It see's decent traffic so you won't be alone for your first time and even if the top of Marcy is one giant sheet the Jack Rabbit trail is usually ok and shit tons of fun. The Jack Rabbit trails is narrow and fast, dropping 3,000 vert or so in 5 miles, its old school New England with quick turns and lots of chances to impale yourself on nearby trees. There are glades from the shoulder that run next to the accent trail that are excellent to if you drop from the top and then cut back over to descend to the Marcy Dam area. Its 9 miles if I remember right from the LOJ to Marcy but the first three are pretty much flat and fast, and the last 6 are done with far less weight as you dropped most of your stuff at Marcy Dam. You already know that the Van Hovenberg trail is short portions of vertical gain followed by flats and then repeat, for me I prefer these 6 miles to the straight up 2.8 of stuff like Tuxs. I would imagine you'll have no problems. You can do Marcy in a day but it works better as an overnight, I like to cut a little vert off and camp at the spots above the dam but it really doesn't matter. If you have crampons bring them as the top of Marcy can get killed by wind. Obviously Bears are less of a concern but I have seen them dicking around Marcy Dam in April.

 

There are lots of other options obviously, Avalanche pass is a nice tour if you don't really want to gain any vert and the Wright, Algonquin, Iroquoi trip is nice though the skiing is generally not as good as Marcy. The possibilities are endless as each mtn. has drainages and tree runs that are simply magical but your going to have to find those on your own as nobody is sharing.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions as I'm sure I've missed alot, additionally I'll pm you about another area that doesn't need to be talked about in public.

 

P.S. If you hit Marcy with pow take lots of pictures and then call me and dick wave, I've tried many times but can't seem to hit that mountain at the right time.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Johnny Law

[mbike-ski]

wow i googled 46-r, pretty impressive! one of these days when i have a little more time and energy i want to do more hiking and ski AT

[snoskier]

Thanks Johnny that is an AWESOME post. There is a lot to digest, but thank you very much. It 100% points me in the right direction.

 

As for being a 46-r it is a lot of fun and I recommend that even if you don't do all 46 that you at least get up in the Adirondacks as it is an amazing place.

 

Snoskier

[FK.]

Congrats on becoming a 46er, I just finished mine up last summer and everytime I'm out there I just try to imagine the possible ski lines... and there is sooo many!!! I too also have alot of winter camping exprience so if you put anything together and want a partner I'd be up for it.

[backcountry_rider]

P.S. If you hit Marcy with pow take lots of pictures and then call me and dick wave, I've tried many times but can't seem to hit that mountain at the right time.

 

Props again on becoming a 46er!

 

Marcy usually has pow in March after the March storms blow through (mid-march). Problem is, it's getting warm again by then, so you'll be skiing in shit at 35-45F. That's also when the tourists love to hit Marcy. You'll recognize them by the 7lb cameras and 40lb day packs.

 

Occasionally Marcy will get hit in later December/early January. I went a while ago (probably about 10-12 years back) on xmas day and there was some pow...only about a foot, but take what you can get in the ADKs. Avalanche (if they still call it that...just the upper portions of the mountain) used to hold snow pretty well even when the base was shitty all through late Jan/early Feb during that balls-fucking-cold spell in early Feb/Late Jan. The snow is cold and dry even when there isn't a lot of it. Not exactly fresh pow unless you get a storm. Be warned, however, that around that time it's not unusual to be skiing in temps around -20 to -35.

 

The folks who work at Northern Ski and Cycle (Main Street Lake Placid heading out of town next to Stewart's) have a wealth of knowledge on ski trails around the region. It's well worth the stop in; they don't care if you buy anything or not.

[Johnny Law]

Props again on becoming a 46er!

 

Marcy usually has pow in March after the March storms blow through (mid-march). Problem is, it's getting warm again by then, so you'll be skiing in shit at 35-45F. That's also when the tourists love to hit Marcy. You'll recognize them by the 7lb cameras and 40lb day packs.

 

Occasionally Marcy will get hit in later December/early January. I went a while ago (probably about 10-12 years back) on xmas day and there was some pow...only about a foot, but take what you can get in the ADKs. Avalanche (if they still call it that...just the upper portions of the mountain) used to hold snow pretty well even when the base was shitty all through late Jan/early Feb during that balls-fucking-cold spell in early Feb/Late Jan. The snow is cold and dry even when there isn't a lot of it. Not exactly fresh pow unless you get a storm. Be warned, however, that around that time it's not unusual to be skiing in temps around -20 to -35.

 

The folks who work at Northern Ski and Cycle (Main Street Lake Placid heading out of town next to Stewart's) have a wealth of knowledge on ski trails around the region. It's well worth the stop in; they don't care if you buy anything or not.

 

I'll have to check out the guys in Northern

[backcountry_rider]

My bad, the name is high peaks cyclery

 

My memory is as bad as my health apparently...