True North Slide and the Lower Range 01-26-13

[Hear the Footsteps]

Pictures of the north face of Gothics are deceiving. The "north face" looks like a vertical wall, in actuality is basically about a 45 degree incline (which is pretty much at the low end of being a technical climb). The True North Slide is fairly tame and is frequently skied. From the picture the True North Slide looks of similar steepness to the north face, but it isn't even close.

The true north slide is a great route with excellent views as you can see from the photos. Great way to get a close up look at the north face, one of the greatest mountain features of the ADKs in my estimation. Although the north face is not super steep for a technical climb, it is still very committing and looks scary as you pointed out.

You right the slide is not all that steep. Though it would probably be a black diamond run at a ski resort, I've skied steeper.

Adriondac had a picture with a skier in the bowl below Gothics. It would be a nice place to spend a day or several runs climbing and skiing. If there is enough snow to fill in the tributary to Orebed Brook the runout back to the main trail could be a nice cruiser at the end of the day.

Our group was a mix of the hard corps that go every week (Claudia, and I) and experienced hikers that don't go every week. It is a very strenuous climb on mixed terrain for those that only go every now and then.

Don

[Hear the Footsteps]

Pictures of the north face of Gothics are deceiving. The "north face" looks like a vertical wall, in actuality is basically about a 45 degree incline (which is pretty much at the low end of being a technical climb). The True North Slide is fairly tame and is frequently skied. From the picture the True North Slide looks of similar steepness to the north face, but it isn't even close.

The true north slide is a great route with excellent views as you can see from the photos. Great way to get a close up look at the north face, one of the greatest mountain features of the ADKs in my estimation. Although the north face is not super steep for a technical climb, it is still very committing and looks scary as you pointed out.

Your right. The slide is not that steep. It would be a black diamond run at a resort but not the steepest one out there for sure.

Our group was a mix of hard corps types that go every week (Claudia and me) and experienced hikers that don't go every week. It is a pretty strenuous mixed terrain route for those that don't climb often. By the time we got to the ridge on Gothics our companions were both happy they went and relieved that the hardest climbing was behind them.


Don

[topofgothics]

Mmmmm, no wind? I was with SoloJoe and Topo and when we traversed the summit sometime after noon, we had to walk right across. It was windy and freezzzzzzzzzing!. Glad you had perfect conditions.

[Hear the Footsteps]

Mmmmm, no wind? I was with SoloJoe and Topo and when we traversed the summit sometime after noon, we had to walk right across. It was windy and freezzzzzzzzzing!. Glad you had perfect conditions.

On the climb up the slide in the open a strong wind and given the temperature it felt very cold.

In the shadow of the Nubble on the NE end of the ridge. No wind, really. Claudia shouted out to those of us not arriving yet the she'd 'found the trail and was in another world.'

On Gothics a breeze. I walked across the ridge on the snow to take a picture of Basin and Haystack and it was pleasant.

By the time we got to Armstrong the wind had picked up. Cold again.

Don