lost snowshoes on Mt. Colden

[sdw1]

If anyone found a pair of Atlas snowshoes near the summit of Mt. Colden in the ADKs (either: Sat. Jan. 15; or Sun. Jan 16.) please let me know. They would most likely be within a few hundred vertical ft. of the summit descending to Colden Lake. They were the Altas 1222's (yellow tube frame) although they are marked on the shoes as the 1022's.

Please email me off the thread if you have found them, and I will obviously pay for shipping along with a nice finders fee. Thank you for being honest.

 

[percious]

Out of curiosity... How did you lose them?

-percious

 

[jrbren]

Personally if I saw snowshoes next to the trail I would assume whoever left them there was going to need them and I would not touch them. I cannot speak for everyone else though. There is a chance they may still be right where you left them. For example I climbed Whiteface 2 Sundays ago and traded my snow shoes for Crampons on the upper stretches and retrieved them on the way back down. My assumption and hope was that others would leave them alone and I was correct (although there was only one other party up high that day).

 

[Doc McPeak]

I tend to agree with jrbren... however, you can normally tell a pair of snowshoes that were removed, placed as a pair for later retrieval, hopefully just off the side of the trail, from a pair that has fallen off the back of a pack.

That said, perhaps sdw1 had them just off trail, neatly stacked and forgot them.

This reminds me of the first hike this winter season. I had stashed an emergency water at the Caulkins Brook/Blueberry trail junction, in a good and visible blue bag, in an insulated coolie, and then buried it in the snow to act as an extra insulative layer. When I returned at the end of my hike to grab my water, someone had pulled the bag out to inspect it's contents, then left it ON TOP of the snow. Maybe they thought it was garbage? Maybe they were just Curious Georges? Maybe they thought its rightful owner would forget where he left this very obvious stash and thought they were doing me a favor by leaving it out unprotected in the open. Maybe they have no idea that one of the best ways to keep warm water in a liquid form is to bury it under snow for extra insulation. Whatever the case, the age old adage of "put it back like you found it" wasn't practiced here, but luckily I wasn't in desperate need of that water, only to find someone had turned it into a block of ice for me.

I think one must think a bit before either taking or leaving items we find along the trails. If I ran into a pair of shoes, neatly stacked off trail I would leave them. Though I may think twice if I had gone up from Lake Arnold, didn't see anyone on the summit, and was leaving late in the day. Even then, with a neatly stacked pair I would probably leave them. However, if they were lying about helter skelter, I may grab them, or at least put them up high in a tree along side of the trail.

This does present a tough question. One would hate to run into the woods on an emergency call of nature and return and find your snowshoes missing.

 

[NYBRAD]

Not to be brash but ,

Some technical climbers would say,

FREE BOOTY!

But that's what differentiates the hiking community, from the climbing "scene".

I hope you can get up there in the next few days. If I could, I'd take a look for you.
If they are still there, I'm sure a member of this board could help.

 

[jrbren]

Most climbers I know climb close to the road so they do not have to lug climbing gear & rope several miles to their destination. Hence I am not suprised the attitude would be more cautious in the climbing community then the hiking community. I rethink my philosophy of leaving stuff behind to pick up later the closer to the road(trailhead) I get. I also do not leave anything I cannot afford to lose. I figure most crooks are lazy or they would not be crooks. Hence they are not likely to steal anything large or heavy away from the car. In general, my observation is the closer to cars = less integrity, more trash and less respect for the surroundings .

Hopefully somebody can get up there who sees this thread and retrieve them for sdw1... Sorry I am not much help and I do not mean to divert the thread...

Happy hiking- John

 

[mavs00]

Not to be a highjacker, but................

sd, I've no idea about the snowshoes, sorry......

It does bring up a question that I feel pretty dumb asking , but since I feel dumb alot, I'll ask anyway. I;ve been real interested in doing a Sawteeth/Gothics or a Colvin/Blake trip in winter, and would likely want to ski lake road and then stash the skies at the base of the hike.

would it be cool to stash them of the side of the trail while we hike up? we'll gather em and ski out that day, but would it be safe to just leave em there? I have wondered. Thanks.

Good luck getting the shoe back sd.

 

[JimB]

Tim, we just did Sawteeth one day and Colvin/BLake the next with ski approaches. For Sawteeth we left our skis next to the shed by the new dam. For Blake we just leaned them up against the tree by the green sign to the trail. It was during the week, but I never worry about anyone snagging my skis. First, they would have to have NNNBC boots(it's a drag carrying skis very far,I know) and second, our gear is usually some garage sale reject or well used set that are not any kind of BOOTY . I find it hard to imagine that a thief would be out in the backcountry during the winter looking for some gear. Sorry to continue the hijack

 

[rdl]

When I did Phelps last year I skiied to the base of the trail up Phelps, left the skiis and snowshoed up to the summit. I wouldn't leave the skiis facing the trail, I stashed them around behind a tree but they were still pretty obvious. I've done that a couple other times and never had a problem(knock on wood).