peak_bgr
01-17-2006, 11:28 AM
Well we did this last week, when there was snow, better late than never right?
We (Brian and I)left from the Loj around 9am and headed up the Algonquin trail, it was hard packed as usual. At around 3000' we decided to head off into the woods, and climd Whale Mtn.. We could see it clear as day from where we were so this should be an easy straight forward bushwhack into the middle of nowhere.
The going was very open except for a couple short sections of snow filled evergreens patches. The terrain was a little steep in spots but the recent freeze thaw we've been having made for a great base with only about 4-6'' of fluffy stuff on top.
We soon came to a small "gorge" type section in a small brook, with an obvious swimming hole at the base. The water cascaded down under the ice for easily over 100' through a rock clift in the hill. To avoid a possible unexpected swim we avoided the pool and the brook until it leveled off half way up. There we walked right up the brook for a long distance-just like climbing to Times Square in the winter. Of course what walking in a brook without at least one person going through, yea, it was me. 12'' of water and ice fell on my snowshoes and up my boot, lost one snowshoe, had to dig it out-you know the usual for me.
The brook eventually ended into a grove of evergreens that we had to fight through, and a patch of dense thick stuff. From here we ended up heading a little to far right and climbing Wright. We didn't notice this until we were about 100-200' above The Whale. Not a biggy, we just climbed down to the summit we wanted. What a summit it was. 360 degree views, an open ridge to follow down to the Whale's Tail that lasts almost a half mile.
We were sitting at the base of Wright with Wright's new slide right there. We could see parts of Marcy Dam. Most of the hihg peaks were in the clouds, but you could see the base of a ton of them.
Our descent down was over a rocky ridge that-like I said lasted for what seemed for ever, and different views kept popping up as we moved on. Once we left the ridge the hillside got real steep and fast. We found ourselves jumping off small cliffs, sliding on our back ends, and well atleast one of us taking a face plant. We reached the Whale's Tail Ski Trail and merely crossed it to start a climb up the very cliffs slopes of Whale's Tail Mtn.. This was a very steep but straight forward and quick ascent from the trail, after all it's only .2 miles from it. There is a small view from the summit back toward the Whale and a little toward Colden.
We descended right off the summit to catch the Marcy Dam Trail about half way between Marcy Dam and the Algonquin Trail intersection. Very easy descent, again very steep with a few cliffs, but the woods were very open.
Round trip for this one took us about 5 hours to go the 6-7 miles. Having to break trail for a good distance was the slow part.
We (Brian and I)left from the Loj around 9am and headed up the Algonquin trail, it was hard packed as usual. At around 3000' we decided to head off into the woods, and climd Whale Mtn.. We could see it clear as day from where we were so this should be an easy straight forward bushwhack into the middle of nowhere.
The going was very open except for a couple short sections of snow filled evergreens patches. The terrain was a little steep in spots but the recent freeze thaw we've been having made for a great base with only about 4-6'' of fluffy stuff on top.
We soon came to a small "gorge" type section in a small brook, with an obvious swimming hole at the base. The water cascaded down under the ice for easily over 100' through a rock clift in the hill. To avoid a possible unexpected swim we avoided the pool and the brook until it leveled off half way up. There we walked right up the brook for a long distance-just like climbing to Times Square in the winter. Of course what walking in a brook without at least one person going through, yea, it was me. 12'' of water and ice fell on my snowshoes and up my boot, lost one snowshoe, had to dig it out-you know the usual for me.
The brook eventually ended into a grove of evergreens that we had to fight through, and a patch of dense thick stuff. From here we ended up heading a little to far right and climbing Wright. We didn't notice this until we were about 100-200' above The Whale. Not a biggy, we just climbed down to the summit we wanted. What a summit it was. 360 degree views, an open ridge to follow down to the Whale's Tail that lasts almost a half mile.
We were sitting at the base of Wright with Wright's new slide right there. We could see parts of Marcy Dam. Most of the hihg peaks were in the clouds, but you could see the base of a ton of them.
Our descent down was over a rocky ridge that-like I said lasted for what seemed for ever, and different views kept popping up as we moved on. Once we left the ridge the hillside got real steep and fast. We found ourselves jumping off small cliffs, sliding on our back ends, and well atleast one of us taking a face plant. We reached the Whale's Tail Ski Trail and merely crossed it to start a climb up the very cliffs slopes of Whale's Tail Mtn.. This was a very steep but straight forward and quick ascent from the trail, after all it's only .2 miles from it. There is a small view from the summit back toward the Whale and a little toward Colden.
We descended right off the summit to catch the Marcy Dam Trail about half way between Marcy Dam and the Algonquin Trail intersection. Very easy descent, again very steep with a few cliffs, but the woods were very open.
Round trip for this one took us about 5 hours to go the 6-7 miles. Having to break trail for a good distance was the slow part.