Pitchoff 1/4/12 (Adirondacks)

DSettahr · Jan 5, 2012

Decided to climb Pitchoff yesterday- I'd climbed it once before a few years ago (in the middle of a snowstorm at night), but that was from the south side. I'd never climbed it from the northern trailhead before, so I was eager to red line some new trails on my hiking maps.

Some snow, but not as much as I was expecting. About an inch at first, covering up a lot of ice in the trail. Higher up along the ridgeline had about 3 or 4 inches in places, and some deeper drifts- including one impressive one that was waist deep on me! Other places that were wind blown were completely devoid of snow but somewhat icy. I wore snowshoes all day, mostly for traction. They were nice to have up high, but microspikes probably would've sufficed.

The trail starts off deceptively flat, but soon turns quite steep- basically heads straight uphill to the ridge. Some steep eroded and gullied sections, but nothing major. I never felt the need for crampons, but some sort of traction would certainly be beneficial. It's also obvious that this trail doesn't get much use- I had a little bit of difficulty following it in one or two spots, but again, nothing major.

Once you hit the ridgeline, the hike is only half over, as the summit is still some distance away. False summits are the name of the game here, and I counted at least 4 or 5 as I made my way along the ridge. Lots of ups and downs, 1 or 2 of which were steep, but for the most part the grades were fairly gentle along the ridge.

Lots and lots of views though- of Marcy, Colden, and Algonquin to the south, Cascade, Porter, and Giant to the east, Hurricane and Jay to the northeast, the Sentinel Range and Whiteface to the northwest, and Lake Placid to the west. I also caught some views of Gothics, Basin, and Haystack peaking up over Big Slide and Yard. The views were seriously non-stop along the whole ridge, and my camera was clicking away constantly with each new vantage point. It was kind of funny when I finally reached the true summit to discover no views at all.

On the way back, the clouds began to roll in and light snowfall started... despite getting a late start, I was back to the trailhead before I needed the aid of a headlamp. Round trip time was about 4.5-5 hours, but I wasn't really pushing myself to go fast.

Definitely, in order to get a full appreciation of Pitchoff, one needs to hike the entire ridge- just going up to the summit and back from the southern trailhead doesn't allow this opportunity. The best way to take in the whole mountain, of course, would be a through trip- spot a car at the second trailhead and hike all the way through. Overall a great peak (despite not being a High Peak) with some of the best views for the effort involved in the Adirondacks.

TCD · Jan 5, 2012

Nice pics! Pitchoff is a real winner! I've done the through hike many times. As you pointed out, it has great views for moderate effort.

From the narrative, I think by the "northern trailhead" you mean the one closer to Lake Placid? Route 73 takes quite a turn there, and that trailhead is actually SW of the one closer to Keene. (I usually refer to the "Keene" and the "Placid" ends of the trail to avoid confusion.)

For a summer hike, it's not a bad road walk back to the car (3 miles), so it's reasonable to do this with one car. A bike is a good tool, too. Watch out for cars! In the winter, I would not want to walk on Route 73 for very long. But here's an excellent option: If you have a pair of ski boots that's comfortable for hiking, you can stash skis at the LP end, hike the ridge and then ski back to the car on the lakes. The lakes will get you about 2.5 of the 3 miles; and the ski would be cool for its own sake.

(I'll have to try that sometime!)

DSettahr · Jan 5, 2012

TCD said:
From the narrative, I think by the "northern trailhead" you mean the one closer to Lake Placid? Route 73 takes quite a turn there, and that trailhead is actually SW of the one closer to Keene. (I usually refer to the "Keene" and the "Placid" ends of the trail to avoid confusion.)

Pretty sure I got it right- I started at the trailhead closer to Keene, which is further north. Hence, the "northern trailhead."

I never thought about skiing back- I had thought about trying to find a friend to hike it with me so we could have two cars, but they all had to work...

EDIT: Are you thinking that the true summit is north on the the ridge? It's actually on the south end. It's confusing on the ADK map, because the ADK map shows a benchmark on a false summit just north of the center of the ridge, making it look like it's the true summit. The bump on the south end of the ridge is actually higher...

TCD · Jan 6, 2012

Right. Sorry. I'm with you now. I was thinking of the 1060m summit, but the SW bump is higher at 1066m.

Thought of another nice loop: throw in Cascade, and then BW N and then NE back to the car. The woods in that basin W of Larramore are not bad, and there is some nice cliff scenery in there.

DSettahr · Jan 6, 2012

TCD said:
Right. Sorry. I'm with you now. I was thinking of the 1060m summit, but the SW bump is higher at 1066m.

Thought of another nice loop: throw in Cascade, and then BW N and then NE back to the car. The woods in that basin W of Larramore are not bad, and there is some nice cliff scenery in there.

Someone had signed in a few days before to do Pitchoff, then Cascade and Porter, then descend to the Garden. Definitely a pretty neat little through trip.