Beta on Marcy-Gray route.

[Neil]

We plan on going from Marcy to Gray this Saturday and I was wondering if anybody had any information which would be useful for us.

 

[Rik]

Go to the Sewards instead?

 

[percious]

Personally, I think Grey->Marcy is MUCH easier, but, if you are a glutton for punishment...

I am guessing that there is still a ton of snow up there. Take a Look at your compass when you are on the top of Marcy, there should be a little "W" on there. Put the red needle with the red arrow on your compass, and the black arrow should point from the "W"...

Ha ha. Just kidding. The route is seriously due west, but you have to follow down from the plaque directly towards grey to the lowest part that the alpine (treeless) area goes. At this point you will drop into the pines, and then it is one hell of a whack over to grey. I want to see some pictures on this one!

-percious

 

[Neil]

I know what you mean about G to M seeming easier but we're doing Tabletop as well and if we saved it (Ttop) for the very last after going in from the Opalescent I doubt very much I would experience joy on it. I don't know how this is going to come out but we just might turn right around from Gray (I guess then I point that little compass needle thingamabobby the other way, huh?) and go back up over Marcy. Depends on the weather and the time and my reserves of muscle glycogen.
As for the Sewards, we plan on doing all 4 of them on Sunday after hiking all night via Flowed Lands, Calamity Brook and Duck Hole.

 

[woodstrider]

Marcy to Grey

I have always gone the Grey to Marcy direction. Marcy is pretty much all open and you can take a bearing from the top and then head for Grey. If you have good weather it will be very easy to see where you are going and you almost won't need a compass. The col between the two is shallow and it is easy to pick a route along Grey's ridge top. In the summer there is a faint herdpath along the ridge, sometimes it is under the branches of the balsam up there. I love this traverse- it is beautifull.

Have a great hike.

 

[Peakbagr]

Grey to Marcy is easier. If the deep snow is consolidated, you'll walk over the deep stuff. If you have visibility, its pretty simple to traverse Grey, keeping Marcy right in front of you. There is a small gully that cuts across in front of you. With snow, we've always been able to scoot right across it. In non-snow conditions, you have to follow along its edge for a short distance for a way across. Either way, shouldn't be too hard.

You oughta have your compass bearings and reciprocals handy, though, if the weather is not cooperating.

Alan

 

[teleskier]

Don't know about specific conditions right now but I've done that in the past in later March, Marcy to Gray, and it was quite easy. You're up on enough snow that hunting for the path isn't a concern, you're really just going along through the tree tops. In summer, of course, it's different, and everyone's right, Gray to Marcy is easier because the path is well-defined coming off Gray and once you hit treeline at Marcy, you just head up the rocks. In the other direction, you'd have to be sure to find the entrance to the path or it'd be some nasty bushwhacking. But I think even with this year's snow cover, you won't have any trouble going Marcy to Gray. When I did it, the whole top of Gray was buried in snow and you could just wander around everywhere - it was pretty cool. That was back in cannister days and the can, which was quite high up on a tree as I recall, was buried in the snow.

P.S. - If you're headed down to Lake Tear from there and out via Lake Arnold, a really nice route is to backtrack to the Gray-Marcy col and just follow the drainage down to Lake Tear. It was pretty open and a pleasant walk or ski. Funnels you right down to Lake Tear and you pick up the trail from there.