dangergirl
Active member
Don and I set out to try the trapdike in the adirondaks this weekend. The weather forecast looked good and we were ready to go. We drove up late Friday night and camped. We were on the trail Saturday morning at 6:30am. It was chilly but the skies were clear and the trail was in great shape! We made our way out to Marcy Dam and then by 9am we were at the base of the Trapdike. I was not too excited about walking across the lake, even though it looked pretty safe. I am always so nervous about falling in! We looked around at some ice that seems like it would be great to climb someday!
By 9:30 we were on our way up the Trapdike. We soloed the first patch of ice and then for the second one we roped up and Don led. We then soloed the next part until we got to one more steep patch of ice and Don led once again. Then the hunt for the exit began. We were distracted by some beautiful ice formations on the vertical wall to our left and took some time to check it out. We saw one set of tracks that kept going up and it made us question our exit. In the summer we exited off to the right just after a large boulder in the middle of the dike that had some trees growing on it. The tracks went up high where the walls dissapeared and then went left so we decided to stick with what we did in the summer.
We exited to the right of the dike and there were some serious terrain traps. Huge holes where there are bolders and crazy spruce traps. This part scared me a bit because if we fell in one we were not coming out.
We soon found the exit onto the slab where we found great snow conditions. We roped up for this part, swinging leads and slinging trees. It was very tiring but very fun! The weather soon started to close in on us as a gentle fog rolled in. We made our way to the summit of Colden and had a quick snack before heading down. It was so much fun and after doing the six husbands trail last weekend it seemed so easy! We walked back to the car and ate a hot meal and camped out another night. It was a super fun day! Here are the links to the pics from the trapdike and ice climbing cascade pass http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157623443390236/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157623318847367/
By 9:30 we were on our way up the Trapdike. We soloed the first patch of ice and then for the second one we roped up and Don led. We then soloed the next part until we got to one more steep patch of ice and Don led once again. Then the hunt for the exit began. We were distracted by some beautiful ice formations on the vertical wall to our left and took some time to check it out. We saw one set of tracks that kept going up and it made us question our exit. In the summer we exited off to the right just after a large boulder in the middle of the dike that had some trees growing on it. The tracks went up high where the walls dissapeared and then went left so we decided to stick with what we did in the summer.
We exited to the right of the dike and there were some serious terrain traps. Huge holes where there are bolders and crazy spruce traps. This part scared me a bit because if we fell in one we were not coming out.
We soon found the exit onto the slab where we found great snow conditions. We roped up for this part, swinging leads and slinging trees. It was very tiring but very fun! The weather soon started to close in on us as a gentle fog rolled in. We made our way to the summit of Colden and had a quick snack before heading down. It was so much fun and after doing the six husbands trail last weekend it seemed so easy! We walked back to the car and ate a hot meal and camped out another night. It was a super fun day! Here are the links to the pics from the trapdike and ice climbing cascade pass http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157623443390236/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157623318847367/
