Gray, Skylight, and Marcy 1/11/12 (Adirondacks)

[DSettahr]

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Still needed Gray and Skylight for my winter 46, so I set out early yesterday to climb both. Started from the Loj in the darkness, took the Old Marcy Dam Trail and made it to Marcy Dam just in time to watch the clouds glow pink as the sun rose.

First time to Marcy Dam since the hurricane- doesn't look too much different except for the bridge is missing. Even the water being down isn't that much different- it wasn't very deep, and those of us who've regularly visited the dam over the past 5 or 6 years remember the leak that drained all the water a few years ago. Definitely no where near as dramatic as Duck Hole...

Headed up via the Lake Arnold trail to Feldspar, then up to Lake Tear of the Clouds. Trail was pretty well broken out the whole way, with maybe about an inch or so of fresh snow on top. Started with Gray first. It looks the like the herd path has been rerouted around some of the steeper spots since I did it last. I was expecting some ice, but it wasn't as bad as I was prepared for (and was much easier than the ice I'd encountered on Cliff two days prior). Lots of views along the way up, particularly of Skylight and Redfield. From the summit of Gray I could see quite a few peaks- Big Slide, Cascade, Whiteface, Colden, Algonquin, Allen, etc. Nice views, and the skies were still blue with patchy clouds...

Descending and quickly reached 4 corners, where I started up Skylight. As I climbed, the clouds above started to thicken, and I could even see some low-elevation clouds working their way over the Cold River area to the west and into Flowed Lands and Lake Colden. Skylight trail was well broken out as well. Somewhat windy on the summit, but not too bad. I could see plenty of people on Marcy, hanging out on the summit and taking pictures.

Marcy hadn't been a part of my original plan- I'd intended to return the way I'd come. I'd let my emergency contact know that there was a possibility I might head out that way, though- and it really wasn't that hard a decision to make to climb it. After all, it's a quarter mile shorter to get back to the Loj from 4 corners by going over Marcy, and you have to climb a significant amount of elevation back up to Lake Arnold from Feldspar anyways. So the lazyness in me won out and I started up Marcy.

It was kind of gloomy by the time I reached the summit- not late in the day, just cloudy. Fortunately, the clouds were all high overhead and the visibility was great- I could see pretty far in every direction. Even all the way to Mansfield in Vermont, which was lit up in a patch of sunlight. It was pretty windy on Marcy, as it had been on Skylight, but not too bad, or cold. I could keep my hands out of my mits for several minutes before they started to get chilled. The summit was covered in rime ice with the consistency of styrofoam, about 2 inches thick. I did encounter some deep drifts of snow here and there, one that looked to be a bout 8 feet deep even, but for the most part the summit was pretty wind swept.

Hung out on the summit for a little while- tried to make some phone calls so I could rub it in my friends faces that I was on the summit of Marcy and they weren't, but the calls wouldn't go through. Ah well... enjoyed the scenery and took lots of photos before I started heading down to the north. The forests on the north slopes of Marcy were like something out of a Dr. Seuss book... the trees were all covered in rime ice and bent over and twisted. Combined with the gloomy clouds overhead, it made for a bit of an eerie hike down...

Made good time back to Indian Falls, where I stopped for lunch while admiring the view of the MacIntyre Range. From there, things started to get a bit tricky- there was a fair amount of ice on the VanHoevenburg trail between Indian Falls and Marcy Dam, but nothing that presented any huge problems since I still had my snowshoes on. Made it back to Marcy Dam just in time to get some nice pictures of dusk as it got dark. The last two miles out were by headlamp, and went pretty quickly.

Overall, conditions were great- all of the trails had been broken out, and the herd path up Gray was easy to follow. Unfortunately, it looked like most of the hikers who'd gone up Marcy from the north side had post holed to the summit, and the trail was pretty torn up in a few spots. I can't imagine how much energy some of them wasted- I saw some pretty deep post holes in some of the drifts on Marcy. Snowshoes were definitely necessary above 3500 feet, although I kept mine on all day for traction. Snow depth was about 2 inches at the Loj, maybe 3 or 4 inches at Marcy Dam, and close to 2 feet near Lake Tear of the Clouds. Microspikes would be good to have for the ice between Marcy Dam and Indian Falls for sure.

Started at 6:30 am, was on the summit of Gray by 11 am, summit of Skylight by 12:30 pm, summit of Marcy by 2:30 pm, Indian Falls at 3:45pm, and made it back to the Loj by 5:45.

Overall, a great hike- 3 high peaks, 2 of which were new winter ones for me. Only 4 more to go... Macomb, South Dix, Hough, and Dix for my finish.