Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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Tom and Laurie were wating for me at the turnoff to the Whiteface ski area at 7:15 Saturday morning. They weren't grinning. It turns out that the area opens at 9 and they'd been shooed out by an employee. We decided to plead our case (not biking, just slide climbing and in need of an early start.) The employee was a gruff but friendly enough chap and when we told him what we were doing he looked down at my crocs and bare feet and says, "you're not climbing the slide in those things are you"? All 3 of us thought up clever responses but kept them to ourselves. It became the joke of the day. Then Tom points to me and tells the guy that I'm a professional which of course was news to me and had me chuckling inwardly. He sounded awefully convincing and I stuck out my chest a wee little bit.
It worked and after a quick car spot near Connery Pond down the road to Lake Placid we found ourselves hiking uphill under the "Facelift" chair. Our immediate goal was a ski trail named "Slide Out" and after ascending partway under the "Summit Quad" we followed it for 5-10 minutes to where the slide abruptly began. The slide climb was a real beauty and now ranks as one of my favourites. The only important thing, navigationally speaking, is to stay left at all forks unless you want to try one of the other slides. Slide #1 is the most obvious and broad one of the lot.
From the bottom it of course looks intimidating due to the foreshortened view and the lower portion is a bit steep. But, whether you choose to follow the plentiful cracks and use the little ledges or friction climb right on the smooth slab it's a straightforward ascent.
The three of us were quite ecstatic to be on the slide and there was always someone making a comment like, "This is SO cool", or, "I love this slide" etc.
The views up to the other slides and the ridges of Whiteface on our right were noteworthy as were the views of Sentinel Mountain and Cascade and Porter. The clouds and haze softened the views considerably.
We topped out (sigh) and after about 10 mins of fairly thick scrub (very faint herd trail) we we could hear voices and saw a coin-op binocular telescope just above us. There was a little bit of culture shock and we stuck out a little amongst the tourists but it was pleasant to rest and eat. Tom rode the elevator down and up to a water source and returned with a renewed supply and then we really stuck out as we whacked under the summit ridge to gain access to the Lake Placid Slide.
I hadn't taken into consideration how we would get to the top of the slide and it might have been possible to climb over the railing and drop down the 10-15 foot rockwall directly to the slide but we weren't sure so we whacked from the summit through some very thick greenery. (On the drive home I realised we could have looped my 50 foot length of webbing through a railing post and easily used that for a quick and easy drop - now that would really have drawn attention to ourselves - but no matter). The Placid Slide is a very smooth and open slab, it is only rubbly for a short distance at the top, and is gently pitched. The slide goes on for a long way and the view of Lake Placid which loomed through the haze was awesome. (I hate the way that word is overused but here it is fitting).
Gradually the slide gave way to a most interesting combination of creek and very steep and narrow slabby drainage with impressive 60 deg rock walls on our left. As we lost elevation this in turn gave way to creek whacking which was slow and required taking care. When the water volume in the creek increased we went up the left bank and found easy and pleasant bushwhacking conditions over to the trail. Stepping onto the trail meant the adventure was over but not the day. We had another 5 miles of hiking on a nice soft trail and the conversation made those miles peel away quickly.
Three ice cold microbrewery beers awaited us in the trunk of Laurie's car and a whopper of a party was about to get underway at Spence's place.
Pictures.
It worked and after a quick car spot near Connery Pond down the road to Lake Placid we found ourselves hiking uphill under the "Facelift" chair. Our immediate goal was a ski trail named "Slide Out" and after ascending partway under the "Summit Quad" we followed it for 5-10 minutes to where the slide abruptly began. The slide climb was a real beauty and now ranks as one of my favourites. The only important thing, navigationally speaking, is to stay left at all forks unless you want to try one of the other slides. Slide #1 is the most obvious and broad one of the lot.
From the bottom it of course looks intimidating due to the foreshortened view and the lower portion is a bit steep. But, whether you choose to follow the plentiful cracks and use the little ledges or friction climb right on the smooth slab it's a straightforward ascent.
The three of us were quite ecstatic to be on the slide and there was always someone making a comment like, "This is SO cool", or, "I love this slide" etc.
The views up to the other slides and the ridges of Whiteface on our right were noteworthy as were the views of Sentinel Mountain and Cascade and Porter. The clouds and haze softened the views considerably.
We topped out (sigh) and after about 10 mins of fairly thick scrub (very faint herd trail) we we could hear voices and saw a coin-op binocular telescope just above us. There was a little bit of culture shock and we stuck out a little amongst the tourists but it was pleasant to rest and eat. Tom rode the elevator down and up to a water source and returned with a renewed supply and then we really stuck out as we whacked under the summit ridge to gain access to the Lake Placid Slide.
I hadn't taken into consideration how we would get to the top of the slide and it might have been possible to climb over the railing and drop down the 10-15 foot rockwall directly to the slide but we weren't sure so we whacked from the summit through some very thick greenery. (On the drive home I realised we could have looped my 50 foot length of webbing through a railing post and easily used that for a quick and easy drop - now that would really have drawn attention to ourselves - but no matter). The Placid Slide is a very smooth and open slab, it is only rubbly for a short distance at the top, and is gently pitched. The slide goes on for a long way and the view of Lake Placid which loomed through the haze was awesome. (I hate the way that word is overused but here it is fitting).
Gradually the slide gave way to a most interesting combination of creek and very steep and narrow slabby drainage with impressive 60 deg rock walls on our left. As we lost elevation this in turn gave way to creek whacking which was slow and required taking care. When the water volume in the creek increased we went up the left bank and found easy and pleasant bushwhacking conditions over to the trail. Stepping onto the trail meant the adventure was over but not the day. We had another 5 miles of hiking on a nice soft trail and the conversation made those miles peel away quickly.
Three ice cold microbrewery beers awaited us in the trunk of Laurie's car and a whopper of a party was about to get underway at Spence's place.
Pictures.
