What are your top 10 ADK Slides?

[longwalksinthewoods]

What is everyone's top 10 favourite slide climbs?

I'm a fairly experience rock and alpine climber looking to spend more time in scramble terrain (3ed & 4th class) this summer - what would the 'perfect' introduction & then education in ADK slide climbing look like?

I'm thinking:

1. Cascade Slide
2. Wright Peak, Angel or Airplane Slide
3. Whiteface, Lake Placid Slide
4. Mt Colden, Trap Dyke
5. Giant Mountain, Eagle Slide (5 stars in ADK Rock)
6. Giant Mountain, Bottle Slide (3 stars in ADK Rock)
7. Nippletop Slide
8. Dix Mtn, Centeral Ring (?)
9. Saddleback?
10. Gothics & Pyramid? (low 5th class)

Also, does anyone have a line on the slide guide? It's out of print, so wondering what the best source of beta is on the slides?

[Hear the Footsteps]

Without the Slide Guide I’d refer to Mudrats site.
I wouldn’t put Cascade slide top of my list. The only advantage is it’s location. Waterfall rock pretty rotten.

Starters based on your stated experience. Just some reaction & not my top 10 list - never thought about that.
Bennies Brook
Trap Dike + Irene Slide(Still pretty clean and very grippy)
Wright Left Wing, your no. 2
Colden 1990 Slide.
Grace Zipper. The Great Slide a bit grown in the middle but fun otherwise.
Giant Bottle.
& Pyramid…too much lichen.

[FoulHooked]

Haven't climbed enough to have a top 10, but for sure would put Bennies/Root Canal & Trap Dike/Irene above Lake Placid slide from an enjoyment perspective. Commitment and exposure are higher on TD, but much of the lower LP is pretty slick with slime.

[CatskillKev]

A slimy slide doesn't sound good at all. You want to be the slide climber not the slider. Maybe there should be a list: Friction hikes that lack friction.

[Dave Bourque]

Some of my favorites;

• Giant - Eagle slide
• Wright
• Whiteface - Lake Placid
• Trap Dike
• Colden - east side
• Many options on Dix
• East Dix has a wonderful approach
• Nippletop
• Saddleback
• Bennies Brook is a perfect "beginner" slide
• The Cascade slide leaves you below the summit in thick vegetation

[Peakbagr]

Tulip and Finger on Giant
Nippletop
Blake
Cliff
Dix various

[tcd]

For me it's Eagle, both sides of Colden, and Grace. The 1990 (east) slide on Colden is still pretty grippy, and I've walked down it a few times. So a nice big intro is "up the trap dike, down the 1990 slide." Bring your rock shoes for easy traction. Check weather; slides are no fun when wet (unlike a steeper climb with holds, which can still be fun when wet).

Also, if you haven't, take a run up the various routes on the Chapel Pond Slab. It's basically a really steep slide, so 5.2 - 5.5, as opposed to 3rd class for most slides.

[longwalksinthewoods]

That’s super helpful - thank you all!

Since the Dacks are a bit of a drive for me I’m thinking of an 3-4 day weekend season opener:

1. 1/2 day warm-up at Capel Pond Slabs (or Whiteface Ski Slides)
2. Hike into Marcy Dam (end of day 1)
3. Up Trap Dyke & down 90s slide on Colden, back to Marcy Dam. (End of day 2)
4. Up Angel Slide on Wright, or NE slide on Algonquin & back to Heart Lake.
5. Evening in Town (End of Day 3)
6. Something fun from the road & back (day 4):
   • Up Giant via Eagle or Bottle Slide
   • Cascade Slide
   • Grace Peak would be an alternate, but a bit of a long day

Few questions:

When does Trap Dyke usually come into season, I’m thinking that there is likely a lot of snow/ice still there, has anyone seen what kind of condition it is in?

What do folks think of Angel vs Airplane slides on Wright vs NE slide on Algonquin?

Also, would Angel slide on Wright be a good descent to Marcy Dam?

[bikerhiker]

I think I have done 17 different slides at least once so far, and haven't done any on the Dix range, nor have I done the Eagle or Cascade but beyond that I have been to the "regulars" at least once. Cascade, the eagle, and various slides on the Dix range are definitely among the next on my list to check out.

I agree with others that Bennies is a great intro slide for many reasons, definitely towards the top of my list.
Other slides at the top of my list are the Trap Dike route , SE 90 slide on Colden, and the Left Wing Slide on wright.
the Trap Dike has fun moves in the dike, with the real exposure below on the irene slide but with ridiculous grip, and the increasing views help make it a classic. I don't know how soon in the spring it gets prime, but the first two times in the summer I intended to climb it, while i was on the hitch-up matildas across the lake from it, the water was just gushing down and it didn't look fun. Third time across the lake it looked a lot better and was well worth the wait.
The 90 Slide: i loved the long approach with first dropping back downhill to find a beaver colony so far up in the mountainous wilderness. That slide has so many fun factors: brookwhack, slab, ledge scrambles, etc. I loved how long the actual time on the brookwhack and slide proper was compared to other slide climbs.
I'm a sucker for slides with awesome brookwhacks, and the left wing slide definitely has a great one there. That slide climb itself was easier than i expected but with amazing views, and like the 2 above ends so close to the summit.
Top to middle of my slide list in ranking include the bottle, nip slide, autobahn on Santa, and back in the saddle slides. I thought they were fun approaches with good length distance getting you out there to the face of the mountain, with a fun slide climb, and i think those were all type 1 or 2 fun.
Definitely bring rock shoes along for the ride with any of these slides, potentially increasing comfort and fun factor while adding not too much weight to your back.

One slide I dont think is mentioned often enough is the Monument Slide on Kilburne's shoulder. Less than half hour approach from the car, and with rock shoes you can try different lines on the footwall, headwall and ledges. If i dont have a full day at my disposal i will hit this one up again before heading back south if i haven't done it in awhile. Smaller but good one.

Towards the bottom of my list is the angle slide on wright. The drainage was less than 15 minutes from the marcy dam area/lean-to for me, and i liked the brookwhack, but the slide climb itself wasn't one of my favorites. That experience though could be influenced by the exit whack to wright's summit, which for me was a 1 to 1.5hr ordeal in type 3 fun. If you dont necessarily want to summit wright and hit the Mac Range that same day, dont do it. So to go from Wright summit to Marcy Dam area? I recommend another way than from the summit down to those slides. A lot of exit whacks were type 2 fun, that one was definitely a 3 that i dont plan to revisit. I might have remembered that slide differently had i checked out the angel slides also just went back down instead of that exit whack to the summit (i loved the rest of my day with looping the slide with mac range to shepherd's tooth to indian pass, if i want to do that loop again via a slide ill go back up the left wing slide or try algonquin's ne (which i heard has hellacious cripplebrush also)).
The lake placid slide is also towards the bottom of my list. I love the whiteface summit and that was a fun way to ascend it overall, but the slide was pretty much wet or getting overgrown or rubble slope that i really didn't enjoy, and I dont plan to revisit that one solo.

while i have the slide guide too, definitely check out mudrat's site, as well as all the great reports on the slides on this subforum.

[longwalksinthewoods]

👆👆👆 That’s such a good reply and thank you!

looks like there is still a lot of snow in the woods & that the bugs are just getting started.

hope to be down in a few weeks to check things out, but I think this is a great thread & hope that we can keep it going with slide recommendations & beta!

[Cold River Bob]

Has anyone done the Emmons slide or the Seward slides? The emmons slide when I was up there last was starting to grass over.

[Gregory Karl]

I did lots in 2011 before and after Irene. Not sure about the condition of some of these today. Among the memorable ones were:

1. New Beckhorn (10/8/11) — With Mastergrasshopper. Started in the dark, ended in the dark. Five hours of bushwhacking to get to the bottom of the slide. Still streaked with mud. Scary.
2. Giant E Face (Bat Slide) (8/23/08) — My first, alone. Intended to just hike up the brook between Rocky and Giant but saw the slide and did it spontaneously, in hiking boots. They say you can't fix stupid, but I bought approach shoes after that scary adventure.
3. Catastrophic Chaos (10/5/11), the new Irene slide on Saddleback — With Inge Aiken.
4. Cruciflyer (9/25/11), that crazy double fall-line slide from Avalanche Pass — Alone.
5. Eagle (10/13/10) — Alone, sort of. Rescued another climber from taking the wrong herd path near the bottom. He returned the favor by making a welcome suggestion when he later found me with sewing machine legs near the top. Returned down Tulip.
6. Colden E (7/19/11) — Alone.
7. Angle, Angel, Airplane (9/17/11) — Three in one with Matt Dobbs. Up the new (Irene) Angle, down the Angel, then up the Airplane.
8. Bottle (8/11/11) — With Ron Clark (aka RTSpoons). Traversed Bat Slide and descended via Tulip. We lost Ron to Covid in 2020.
9. Nippletop (7/27/11) — Memorable because I intended to go alone but met five kids from the AMR summer camp(?) on the bushwhack to the bottom of the slide and ascended with them. Ended up giving a boost to an 11 year old a couple of times.
10. Trap Dike (8/17/11) — Alone. Up the old slide.

Did many since, including a number of repeats. Others included Nye, Lake Placid, Cascade, Moose, Wolfjaw Brook, Bennie's, Wilmington, Great on Grace, Pinkie (Dix), Finger (Giant), '93 (Colden) …

Edit: Ah, just noticed this is an old thread. Must have missed it the first time around.