7 Summits with Puck

[Chip]

No, not THE 7 Summits, we're not delusional. But since I suckered you in with that teaser,
you may as well read the report. There's a few decent pics, anyway.

2/11/10: Camp, Algonquin, Iroquois and Wright

Thursday night Puck and I left CT after work at 5:30pm. We got to the Adirondack Loj parking lot
at about 11pm and headed out for the 2 1/2 mile hike to the campsite on the MacIntyre Range Trail
below the brook. We set up the tent, unpacked and shared some Hermits and Apple Jack .

We "slept" for about 5 hours. Paradox and KMAC met us at camp at about 7:30 and we headed up.
Algonquin was socked in, which was par for me as I've never had a view there. Soon it was off towards
Boundary and Iroquois. The cols on either side of Boundary are known to be difficult in any season.
This is Spruce Trap Season. It wasn't a matter of breaking trail, there was none. We needed to find a
route that would support us. Trial, error, full body Spruce Trap post holes, swearing and perseverance
finally led us across the cols and to Iroquois. By now the sky had started to clear and moods
(my mood anyway) improved dramatically. I'm really happy we got to Iroquois and back to Algonquin.

Off Algonquin, Paradox left us at the cut-off for Wright as he had Marshall on Saturday and did Wright
last year. Puck, KMAC and I headed up the .4 miles to the summit and experienced a bit of it's legendary wind.

We still had to break camp and pack out to the Loj. I think we were at Tmax and Topo's Jack Rabbit Hostel
by 4:30 or so. Great day (and then some).

Here's the link to the rest of the pics.

2/12/10: Nye, Street and Gathering

Saturday we met Rik, his wife, daLunartik and KMAC back at The Loj for Street and Nye. This was a nice,
pleasant hike with good company...until the half hour or so we spent on Nye. In my opinion Nye is the
abused step child of the Dacks who doesn't like sharing it's toys. Some clever route location by sight
and GPS by Rik and daLunartik helped us locate the summit. I helped locate the Spruce Traps . This
was getting old and I was happy to get back to the intersection and head towards Street. Street was
much more hospitable and we enjoyed the company at the summit.

Saturday night was the ADKHighpeaks Foundation gathering and fundraiser at The Ark Trail Inn.
An excellent cast of the usual suspects were in attendance. Food, drink, jocularity and fundraising ensued.
Thanks to Neil and the others for that great event.

Here's the link to the rest of those pics.

2/13/10: Cascade and Porter

Puck and I packed, ate and left Tmax and Topo's (A+ rated hospitality, company and showers) and
were at the trailhead for Cascade and Porter by 8:30 this morning. A relatively benign hike up the packed
trail was improved by the sight of a healthy, young Pine Martin combing the trail ahead, checking us out
briefly and then darting back into the hardwoods. At the intersection we headed towards Cascade and
stopped below the summit to gear up.

Each day one mountain would not give up it's summit easily and today it was Cascade.
While the summiting was not difficult (NO SPRUCE TRAPS !!! ), the wind was as fierce as any
I've experienced. Puck and I communicated telepathically with a message that went something like
"F%*k the summit pic, we're outta here !".
Soon we were back at the intersection and off to Porter. Porter was nice, friendly and our seventh summit of an outstanding 3 1/2 days of hiking.

Back at the car by noon, we had time to stop and patronize, in an appreciative and non-patronizing manner,
The Mountaineer, which was sporting some interesting roof snow flowage. Great, great shop.

And here's the Cascade and Porter pics.

I look forward to the rest of the various participants additions. Great weekend with excellent company and mountains.

 

[Billy]

...Algonquin was socked in, which was par for me as I've never had a view there...

Just for you, Chip. Sorry, no snow.

Cool trip report. That was a full three days. Not sure why, but I always like backcountry tent pictures.

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Hey Chip, great report and pics! It was also great seeing you again at the gathering. Fun time had by all.
-Tony

 

[adktyler]

Nice report, Chip! And it was excellent to see you again! Enjoy the rest of your winter

 

[Paradox]

Good to see Chip and Puck again and hike with you. I have some pictures of Iroquois that I will post soon. Great TR!

 

[Scotzman]

Great TR and pics! It was good meeting you at the Ark and congrats on your busy weekend.

 

[ADKdremn]

Great report....sounds like a great weekend. Can't feel bad about 7 summits!
Congrats.

 

[Puck]

I learned some great lessons on these hikes; A) a pair of gaitors means two of your own, not one of yours and one of your wife's. So I was gaitorless in the spruce trap col and did not lead at any point. Paradox and Chip were the ones to srping the traps.
B) Tails in the Adirondacks marked as unmaintained, means blowdowns and narrow treadway. My pack was to huge and constanly got snagged. The others seemed to slip through these like ferrets.

It was a great trip. Nice to meet and hike with new friends.

 

[daLunartik]

Very nice hike and a pleasure meeting everyone

One of the first times I've actually pre-loaded a GPS track to follow, and it came in handy. 5 mins of computer time saved us at least 15 minutes thrashing through spruce traps...well, thrashing through deep snow while Chip found the Traps

B) Tails in the Adirondacks marked as unmaintained, means blowdowns and narrow treadway. My pack was to huge and constanly got snagged.

Ahh, but I didn't have to worry about any snow bomb with you snagging every other tree

 

[ksearl]

Great trip report, Chip! I'm not too familiar with the NY/Adirondack's at all...which makes VFTT nice since I can check out some TR's from other regions.

Looks like you guys had some great weather with the exception of the wind on Cascade. Sometimes that fierce wind is fun, though. Wind that knocks you over is truly amazing...I've experienced it in the Whites and though it is intimidating...it is an awesome amount of power!

Thanks for sharing!
Karl

 

[Rik]

Fun hike. Nice to spend the day with everyone!

 

[coldfeet]

Nice trip, please pencil me in for the campout out next year! Looks like you guys were in good shape, did you carry all that gear on Friday or stash it for the trip out? P/T was impressed with my continued progress, mentally I feel much better, last week was no fun. Spruce traps? Glad to hear you made it out ok. You have to tell me that story on our next AT trip. Be well, going to view all the pics...

Puck, what did you kept getting caught on? Chip probably used a large pack also. Nice lesson learned about the gaitors, wonder if you gotta color code them for future useage.

 

[Puck]

Puck, what did you kept getting caught on? Chip probably used a large pack also. Nice lesson learned about the gaitors, wonder if you gotta color code them for future useage.

I got caught up on every tree an blow down. Chip's pack was tiny...big enough to hold his lip balm and his spare change. I gotta get me one of those.

Hope to see you next year at this event.

 

[NewHampshire]

Looks like a fun time there fellas! One of these days I have to mosey my arse on over to those little hills you got up there in Northern New York.

Brian

 

[kmac]

Whoo Hoo!!! I was so happy that we tagged Iroqouis!! That was definitely a tough one..spruce traps and all!!

 

[Chip]

Chip's pack was tiny...big enough to hold his lip balm and his spare change. I gotta get me one of those.

Hold up there Kemosabe, for those keeping score: My 1 lb, 750 ci Osprey DayLite held my down parka, hardshell jacket, emergency kit, 2 liters in cozzies, extra hat, gloves, mask, electronics, food...I could've strapped a sleep pad, bivy sack and stabilicers to the bottom, but the light weight design of this pack makes it painful to carry too much weight.

 

[Paradox]

Pictures and GPS track on Wikiloc.

 

[Steve-o]

Nice report !

Bummed to have missed the gathering this year but, looking forward to 3 days of ADK fun this weekend !

 

[Scotzman]

When you go hiking with Puck, you ever feel the urge to yell: What the Puck!!?

 

[J.Dub]

Whoo Hoo!!! I was so happy that we tagged Iroqouis!! That was definitely a tough one..spruce traps and all!!

The only thing worse than snow+spruce traps is snow+spruce traps+mud, which is what we had getting to Iroquois in Oct. '08.

We missed you at the Venture crew ice climbing outing! (I have some pics that I'll get to Karen to go with her video, so you can see the fun we had.)

Nice TR there, Chipster. Wish I could've joined all y'all.