The elusive and endangered Peregrine Falcon calls the craggy cliffs and mountainsides of the Adirondacks its home. Peregrines dive at incredible speeds and can be seen sailing along the sides of high rock faces throughout the early summer. The fascinating birds are monogamous, have long lifespans, and often return to the same nests year after year with their chosen partner.
Looking for the perfect gift? Forget wrapping paper and bows. Instead, think outside of the box and gift an Adirondack adventure instead of material things. Need inspiration? If your recipient enjoys outdoor adventure, then they may like to go:
Acquisition Increases Public Access and Recreational Opportunities
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Adirondack Land Trust today announced the addition of 250 acres to the Forest Preserve on Moxham Mountain between Minerva, Essex County and North Creek, Warren County. The acquisition will increase public access to the south side of Moxham Mountain for hiking and rock climbing.
Are you a climber looking for a challenge to get you ready for the spring climbing season? Are you a hiker trying to avoid the trails during shoulder season? Or are you just looking for something fun and safe to do during a global pandemic?
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has finalized the Unit Management Plan (UMP) for the Sentinel Range Wilderness.
The Sentinel Range Wilderness is comprised of 23,874 acres of Forest Preserve lands in the towns of Keene, Jay, Wilmington, and North Elba, Essex County. The lands consist primarily of rugged, mountainous forest land with relatively few ponds and wetlands. Mountain views are one of the Wilderness Area’s main attractions, although a portion of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail also runs through the wilderness. The area borders the north side of Route 73 through Cascade Pass and includes a number of popular climbing areas. » Continue Reading.
The Champlain Valley Film Series is set to present the documentary Free Solo, with special guest renowned climber, author and Adirondack guide Don Mellor in Whallonsburg, March 16th.
Mellor, author of four Adirondack rock and ice climbing guides, and other books. He has climbed El Capitan and other Yosemite walls and will answer questions after the film » Continue Reading.
The Mountaineer and Adirondack Rock and River are set to host the 23rd Annual Adirondack International Mountaineering Festival (Mountainfest) on January 18th through January 21th, 2019.
Mountainfest is an annual celebration of ice climbing and mountaineering featuring guest athletes with tales of climbing adventures, instructional clinics taught by visiting climbers and local guides, demo gear, raffles, happy hour, and yoga. » Continue Reading.
High Peaks Cyclery of Lake Placid is sponsoring the second annual Adirondack Rock Climbing Rendezvous the weekend of September 28-30. The agenda includes climbing clinics, tours of local cliffs, slide shows, and music.
Colin Loher, a climbing guide and one of the organizers, said the goals of the three-day rendezvous are to promote safe climbing and to celebrate the region’s natural resources – “the vast constellation of cliffs, walls, and precipices that bejewel the Adirondack Park.”
Not to mention have some fun. » Continue Reading.
Why would a climber want to visit something called Moss Cliff? Though the name conjures up some dank, low-angled slab wrapped in a living green carpet, the reality is quite different. This best of Adirondack cliffs is not so mossy. In fact, it’s among the cleanest, driest, most appealing rock walls in the Northeast — in my opinion, the most Adirondack of all Adirondack crags.
The name probably comes from a misreading of the 1953 USGS topographical map that put the unflattering label on a dirty slab about a mile to the west of the clean and elegantly sculpted wall that we now call Moss Cliff.
Moss Cliff isn’t hard to find. You’ve all seen it looming high above the Ausable River on the Sunrise Mountain shoulder of Whiteface. Zooming by at 55 mph, however, doesn’t give you the chance to pick out the climbers, the colorful little dots who have been playing out the evolution of climbing, out of sight, but in plain view if you ever stop to look. » Continue Reading.
Mt. Colden’s Trap Dike is a well-known feature among hikers, climbers and geologists. It is not, however, the only trap dike in the High Peaks. Take notice and you’ll find smaller dikes crisscrossing most of the slides and treeless summits. Most of these are interesting and perhaps photogenic, but irrelevant to climbing.
One of the best-kept backcountry secrets is a large vertical trap dike capped with a diagonal car-sized capstone on Mt. Marcy. It lies in a northeastern facing cliff deep in Panther Gorge and looks like a pencil-thin shadow from the summit of Mt. Haystack. This is Marcy’s Great Chimney. » Continue Reading.
In the history of mountain climbing in New England, the first ascent of Mt. Washington happened in 1642 with Darby Field as the climber.
Over the years, however, there has been great speculation as to the route that Field took to the summit. Most early speculation assumed that his main goal was to climb the mountain, and that he then took the most direct route as he came in from the Maine coast.
That route would have taken him up the Cutler River and then up the southeast side of Mt. Washington, the Northeast’s tallest mountain. This is the side with Pinkham Notch and Tuckermans Ravine. For many years, this was the “conventional wisdom” regarding this ascent. Then, as referenced in the article below, an ancient letter surfaced that indicated Field had taken an entirely different route to the summit. This different route, as described in the Watermans’ Forest and Crag (1989), included going over several other summits and passing by what are now known as “Lakes of the Clouds.” With this new evidence, the Watermans could clear up much of the earlier speculation regarding Field’s route, but they still admitted that they did not know why Field climbed Mt. Washington. » Continue Reading.
Maurice Isserman’s Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering is a scholarly work that covers the exploits of mountaineers in the United States and Canada from colonial days to 1963, the year that an American team reached the top of Everest.
Everest is a world away from the northeastern United States, the starting point of Isserman’s book. In 1642, Darby Field, a resident of what is now New Hampshire, climbed White Hill, known by local Indians as Agiocochook and by moderns as Mount Washington, the highest mountain in New England.
Others in the Massachusetts Bay Colony thought Field daft for climbing a mountain. It just wasn’t something people did. Isserman writes: “Following his death in 1649, it was remarked that his was a life of ‘merriness marred by insanity.’”
Four and a half hours after our 4:30 am departure from the Garden trailhead in Keene Valley, my two climbing partners and I dropped our packs and looked around. We were surrounded by cliffs: free-standing pillars, tiered walls, slabby slides, and vertical stone faces, some more than three hundred feet high. There were caves, hidden talus fields, and giant fins of rock. Vertical cracks abounded.
I gaped in wonderment at one of the most remote and beautiful rock-climbing destinations in the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
The Dolomites in northern Italy are mountains, but they’re not like the Adirondacks. For one thing, they’re a lot bigger. The tallest mountain, Marmolada, rises to nearly 11,000 feet, more than twice as high as Mount Marcy. They’re also more civilized than the Adirondacks.
By civilized, I mean developed. In the Adirondacks, we prohibit cabins on the Forest Preserve. In the Dolomites, you’ll find lodges, known as rifugios, on many of the mountains. In the Adirondacks, there are only two ski resorts on the Forest Preserve, on Whiteface and Gore. In the Dolomites there are ski resorts all over, with chairlifts and gondolas running in summer (for sightseeing) as well as winter.
And then there are the via ferratas. Whereas Adirondack rock climbers might argue over the placement of a bolt on a crag, many cliffs in the Dolomites are outfitted with steel cables, ladders, stemples (giant metal staples), and bridges. The idea is to give non-climbers a climbing experience
Carol says I come up with my best trip ideas at the breakfast table. Since this was the last day of her Adirondack vacation, I felt the pressure to suggest something special. She likes to swim, I like to rock climb, and we both like to bike and hike. If I could combine all four of those activities, I might win her affection for all eternity.
It’d be worth a shot, anyway. » Continue Reading.
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