Whiteface Brook Slide

DelawareMike · 06-27-2010, 11:43 AM

The camera stayed in the car for this one, accidentally, so no pics.

Day 1 - Left with 4 people in 2 cars from Yorktown, NY on Thursday. Car A had 2 kayaks and Car B had a canoe. Plan was to paddle across Lake Placid to Whiteface Landing, camp out, hike Whiteface via the Slide and Esther, camp another night, then hike out to watch U.S. soccer. Car B breaks down on route 90 near Albany and after being towed we find out it requires a new transmission. The car has 200,000 miles so we decide the car needs to be junked. The body shop that will store the car for us allows us to leave the canoe there until Monday. So we pack all the stuff in Car A and continue on our way. We reach the Adirondack Park around 7pm, far too late to start a hike, so we camp near Paradox Lake. Fall asleep after some cold labatts listening to the call of loons.

Day 2 - We get a late start stopping for breakfast and gasoline. We arrive at the Connery Pond trailhead near Lake Placid around 11. We hike in to Whiteface Landing, set up camp, go for a swim. Start up Whiteface around 1:30. We follow the trail until it begins to turn away from the brook. We head into the woods following a bearing of approximately 30 degrees, staying high up from the brook. The bushwhacking ranges from 'not-so-bad' to 'kinda rough'. One member of our party decides to follow the brook itself. We all meet up at the base of the slide in about 45 minutes. The slide is extremely wet. One person attempts to climb it and begins sliding immediately. Some gnarly bushwhacking ensues to bypass the wetter parts. We reach what appears to be an end to this section of the slide slide. We decide to enter the woods slide right. Took approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour of some seriously tight bushwhacking to find the rest of the slide. At some point during a really tight spot a stick enters my ear (more to come on that later). I feel my ear, there is no blood or pain. We find the rest of the slide. It is dry, providing great friction and the angle of ascent is low. That combination makes for an awesome slide climb. We reach the headwall, which requires some legitimate class 3-4 climbing to ascend. Eat lunch on top, head back to camp. Cook dinner, make a fire, go swimming.

Day 3 - Wake up finding my left ear bloody and deaf. Let my buddies know I am hiking out to seek medical attention. Apparently the stick did some damage. Arrive at the emergency room, find out that my ear drum is cut in several places, there are cuts in my ear canal, and there are pieces of stick stuck in there. Doctor can't believe I didn't notice something was wrong all day yesterday. Tells me to seek the care of an ear, nose, and throat specialist immediately.

Day 4 (Today) - Going to see an ENT hoping to get a quick recovery of all my hearing!

Lesson learned: If you have really bad luck, like myself, it might be a good idea to wear a hat over your ears and sunglasses over your eyes while bushwhacking.

RockON · 06-27-2010, 12:02 PM

Mike,
Sounds like a tough trip start to finish. Good luck for a speedy recovery.
Bob

DelawareMike · 06-27-2010, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RockON

Mike,
Sounds like a tough trip start to finish. Good luck for a speedy recovery.
Bob

Thanks Bob! A friend that is a physician is pretty sure it's just blood behind the ear drum and will slowly go away itself.

Any trips planned this summer for yourself? The Sewards?

SummitHat · 06-27-2010, 10:55 PM

What an incredibly wierd story combining bad luck and a good measure of triumph. I wish you a complete and speedy recovery for your injuries!

TFR · 06-28-2010, 08:59 AM

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that your ear is injured. Oops, bad pun!

Anyway, Neil, Laurie and I descended this slide (is this the one that goes all the way to the tower?) and it was a breeze. We must have chosen a good exit point, because we hit the trail with ease.

Hope you make a full recovery!

Gregory Karl · 06-28-2010, 10:02 AM

Mike,

Holy #$%^&*! Hope your ear recovers fully and quickly.

I'm not sure you want to hear this now, but after the first slimy part of the slide, which ends at a big choke stone in the channel, there are two choices, left or right. Left gets you out to the slide in five minutes of easy whacking. Right gets you . . . well you know all about that. Anyway, here are some images that show the choke stone and perhaps some parts of the lower slide you may have missed:

http://picasaweb.google.com/curugrot...aceViaLPSlide#

RockON · 06-28-2010, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DelawareMike

Thanks Bob! A friend that is a physician is pretty sure it's just blood behind the ear drum and will slowly go away itself.

Any trips planned this summer for yourself? The Sewards?

Glad to hear (opps, sorry) that you have a line on the problem and I hope it does clear up quickly. Yeah, the Sewards are next in line for me. Hopefully this weekend. Looking at Greg's pictures (thanks for posting them Greg) that looks like a fantasitic trip.

Neil · 06-28-2010, 10:52 AM

Great going making it to the top. That's a really nice slide. Lots of historical artifacts along the way.

Here's a pic of Laurie doing balance exercises.

tcd · 06-28-2010, 10:56 AM

Anyone ever ski that slide? It looks like a nice moderate angle...might be a nice two car traverse up the highway and down the slide, or a "lazy man's traverse" up the lift on a day the ski area slides are open and then hike the remaining small bit and down the slide...

DelawareMike · 06-28-2010, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregory Karl

Mike,

Holy #$%^&*! Hope your ear recovers fully and quickly.

I'm not sure you want to hear this now, but after the first slimy part of the slide, which ends at a big choke stone in the channel, there are two choices, left or right. Left gets you out to the slide in five minutes of easy whacking. Right gets you . . . well you know all about that. Anyway, here are some images that show the choke stone and perhaps some parts of the lower slide you may have missed:

http://picasaweb.google.com/curugrot...aceViaLPSlide#

Thanks for posting those pics!

There was some really gnarly spruce to the right, maybe we should have looked up some route information on here first!

Yes TFR, this is the slide that goes to the Tower.

Neil, what artifacts are up there?

DelawareMike · 07-17-2010, 09:36 AM

Update,

In case anyone was wondering my ear fully recovered (just in time for my wedding next weekend). Turns out the ear drum was probably never damaged, just bad cuts in my ear canal and a blockage of dried blood!

mink · 07-17-2010, 09:41 AM

Glad to hear that you made a full recovery.

btw: Best wishes next weekend!

RockON · 07-17-2010, 07:40 PM

Mike,
Good news and better news! Many happy years and hikes together. Honeymooning in the Santas?
Bob

06-27-2010, 11:43 AM	#1
DelawareMike Consultant Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 316	Whiteface Brook Slide The camera stayed in the car for this one, accidentally, so no pics. Day 1 - Left with 4 people in 2 cars from Yorktown, NY on Thursday. Car A had 2 kayaks and Car B had a canoe. Plan was to paddle across Lake Placid to Whiteface Landing, camp out, hike Whiteface via the Slide and Esther, camp another night, then hike out to watch U.S. soccer. Car B breaks down on route 90 near Albany and after being towed we find out it requires a new transmission. The car has 200,000 miles so we decide the car needs to be junked. The body shop that will store the car for us allows us to leave the canoe there until Monday. So we pack all the stuff in Car A and continue on our way. We reach the Adirondack Park around 7pm, far too late to start a hike, so we camp near Paradox Lake. Fall asleep after some cold labatts listening to the call of loons. Day 2 - We get a late start stopping for breakfast and gasoline. We arrive at the Connery Pond trailhead near Lake Placid around 11. We hike in to Whiteface Landing, set up camp, go for a swim. Start up Whiteface around 1:30. We follow the trail until it begins to turn away from the brook. We head into the woods following a bearing of approximately 30 degrees, staying high up from the brook. The bushwhacking ranges from 'not-so-bad' to 'kinda rough'. One member of our party decides to follow the brook itself. We all meet up at the base of the slide in about 45 minutes. The slide is extremely wet. One person attempts to climb it and begins sliding immediately. Some gnarly bushwhacking ensues to bypass the wetter parts. We reach what appears to be an end to this section of the slide slide. We decide to enter the woods slide right. Took approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour of some seriously tight bushwhacking to find the rest of the slide. At some point during a really tight spot a stick enters my ear (more to come on that later). I feel my ear, there is no blood or pain. We find the rest of the slide. It is dry, providing great friction and the angle of ascent is low. That combination makes for an awesome slide climb. We reach the headwall, which requires some legitimate class 3-4 climbing to ascend. Eat lunch on top, head back to camp. Cook dinner, make a fire, go swimming. Day 3 - Wake up finding my left ear bloody and deaf. Let my buddies know I am hiking out to seek medical attention. Apparently the stick did some damage. Arrive at the emergency room, find out that my ear drum is cut in several places, there are cuts in my ear canal, and there are pieces of stick stuck in there. Doctor can't believe I didn't notice something was wrong all day yesterday. Tells me to seek the care of an ear, nose, and throat specialist immediately. Day 4 (Today) - Going to see an ENT hoping to get a quick recovery of all my hearing! Lesson learned: If you have really bad luck, like myself, it might be a good idea to wear a hat over your ears and sunglasses over your eyes while bushwhacking. __________________ Love all wilderness! Trying to hike and XC ski as much as possible. ADK 46/46 still not official. W 27/46 Last edited by DelawareMike; 06-27-2010 at 11:47 AM.

06-28-2010, 08:59 AM	#5
TFR Peek-Bagger Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Tillson, NY - Avatar: Whiteface Slide Posts: 5,385	Wow, I'm sorry to hear that your ear is injured. Oops, bad pun! Anyway, Neil, Laurie and I descended this slide (is this the one that goes all the way to the tower?) and it was a breeze. We must have chosen a good exit point, because we hit the trail with ease. Hope you make a full recovery! __________________ Tom Rankin - 5444W - Proud Member #0003 of ADKHP Foundation Volunteer Balsam Lake Mountain President Catskill 3500 Club CEO Views And Brews! Trail maintainer for the Dry Brook Ridge trail from Mill Brook Road to just past the Lean-to

06-28-2010, 10:02 AM	#6
Gregory Karl * — * — * — * — * Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Jay Posts: 1,937	Mike, Holy #$%^&*! Hope your ear recovers fully and quickly. I'm not sure you want to hear this now, but after the first slimy part of the slide, which ends at a big choke stone in the channel, there are two choices, left or right. Left gets you out to the slide in five minutes of easy whacking. Right gets you . . . well you know all about that. Anyway, here are some images that show the choke stone and perhaps some parts of the lower slide you may have missed: http://picasaweb.google.com/curugrot...aceViaLPSlide# __________________ "a politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man" (e. e. cummings)

07-17-2010, 09:36 AM	#11
DelawareMike Consultant Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 316	Update, In case anyone was wondering my ear fully recovered (just in time for my wedding next weekend). Turns out the ear drum was probably never damaged, just bad cuts in my ear canal and a blockage of dried blood! __________________ Love all wilderness! Trying to hike and XC ski as much as possible. ADK 46/46 still not official. W 27/46

07-17-2010, 09:41 AM	#12
mink Consultant Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 349	Glad to hear that you made a full recovery. btw: Best wishes next weekend! __________________ "The concept of time disappears when thoughtful people on a high summit free their minds momentarily from the dramatic impact of the summit scenery and realize that in truth the surrounding alpine meadow is a continuation of ancient times into this very day" Edwin H. Ketchledge

06-27-2010, 12:02 PM	#2
RockON Slowlowist Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Albany, NY Posts: 803	Mike, Sounds like a tough trip start to finish. Good luck for a speedy recovery. Bob

06-27-2010, 10:55 PM	#4
SummitHat That was fun Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: The Cold North Posts: 951	What an incredibly wierd story combining bad luck and a good measure of triumph. I wish you a complete and speedy recovery for your injuries!

06-28-2010, 10:52 AM	#8
Neil Enjoying Wellness Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Montreal Posts: 8,389	Great going making it to the top. That's a really nice slide. Lots of historical artifacts along the way. Here's a pic of Laurie doing balance exercises.

06-28-2010, 10:56 AM	#9
tcd Commander Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 602	Anyone ever ski that slide? It looks like a nice moderate angle...might be a nice two car traverse up the highway and down the slide, or a "lazy man's traverse" up the lift on a day the ski area slides are open and then hike the remaining small bit and down the slide...

07-17-2010, 07:40 PM	#13
RockON Slowlowist Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Albany, NY Posts: 803	Mike, Good news and better news! Many happy years and hikes together. Honeymooning in the Santas? Bob

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