New Slide on Armstrong Redux, 2020-01-01

[Hear the Footsteps]

New Slide on Armstrong Redux, 2021-01-01 (blew it on the title and can't change}

To start the new year off well, Claudia, Where's Albany, and I visited the new Slide on Armstrong. Claudia and I had visited in 2020.

We bushwhacked to the base of the slide off of the Beaver Meadow Falls Trail starting from the switchbacks. This is above where the Hurricane Irene slide crosses the trail.

On our last trip we noted two trees that survived the land slide and now appear as small islands in the middle of destruction.
There's a couple pictures in the slide deck.

The slide had some water running below. And lots of thin ice and this limited our options and willingness to chance exposure. About 2/3 up the slide there's a split for a second older finger. Would like to have visited but decided to not to risk a traverse all the way across the slide.

Last trip we exited by downclimbing and mostly walking down the brook. This time we climbed out.

The older finger tops out slightly higher than the new one and was close by to the new one. On checking it out we noticed immediately the start of a way out by climbing. My GPS indicated Armstrong summit would be only be about 220 yards away. About 1/2 that distance would be climbing. We had good luck and kept finding weaknesses. One narrow spot we had to take off packs to get through,

The rest of the day we spent going over Gothics and Pyramid with an out and back to Sawteeth.

We probably saw about another dozen hikers on our trip out.

The Range trail has over a foot of snow with occasional big steps that are pretty icy. The descent of Pyramid was pretty icy. Sawteeth similar in places but since it's not as steep it seemed easier. Some hikers on Armstrong said conditions were very icy on climbing from the East.

Pictures from my camera and Where's Albany: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmTmXcYs

Statistics: Slide is about 0.6 mile long (having issues w/ GPS software getting good figure) and ascends about 880 feet. Exit to the trail from top of old finger and arriving on Range Trail very near Armstrong, is about 500 feet with 300 foot ascent.

Don

[nangaparbat]

You dont have an idea, how much I would like to be in your footstep... Here in southern Quebec we have nothing that really compares with the ADK. Enjoy! Looking forward to see your next adventure.

[Hear the Footsteps]

You dont have an idea, how much I would like to be in your footstep... Here in southern Quebec we have nothing that really compares with the ADK. Enjoy! Looking forward to see your next adventure.

Thank You Nagaparbat. Hopefully it will not be much longer.
Don

[bikerhiker]

thanks for the report and great pics.
i havent come across this slide on any of the usual satellite pics yet, like caltopos, it is just to the south (climber's left) of the "strong arm" slides in the slide guide? and it is completely separate and not really like an extension of the others right there?
i was going back through my pics from this fall (october) of when i went up the nip slide then down to dial and looking over towards the range, trying to see if i had pics of the slide, and the pics reminded me that i was thinking that day that basins faces and the jaws' sabertooth slides looked "cleaner" than i had remembered them the last few years. probably from the same storm as your new slide.

so..if this is a completely separate slide of the strong arms, do you think you were the first ascendents of this new slide this last summer? i think as first climbers (or descenders) of a slide you guys should have "naming rights".

[Hear the Footsteps]

bikerhiker Good question about the timing of the slide. We thought it could have formed in the rains brought as a result of the Hurricane Isias.

Looking at the slide guide p34. This slide is left of the left most Strong Arm slides. Close look perhaps the bottom part might have existed but grown in. However when at the base of the slide you see so much slide activity in there. There is a slide on the East Face of the buttress that Beaver Meadow Flalls trail is on and this could also be that remnant (See 2nd picture that I took from near the top of the older finger of the slide we climbed).

The upper 3/4 is definitely new and is below the Letters Ar on Armstrong in the slide guide.

Not sure about naming rights.



Line shows slide track on East Face of Buttress that Beaver Meadow Falls Trail follows. This slide ends near the base of the slide we climbed.