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HURRICANE MOUNTAIN

10/1/2016

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Picture
PictureAscending Hurricane Mountain
It's no secret that winter took a long time to arrive in the east in December 2015. When my husband and I booked accommodations in Keene, New York with friends for around New Year's, we expected to be spending most of our time ice climbing and skiing. When we arrived, there was very little snow, so we decided to do what we always do in the Adirondacks: Hike!

After our New Year's Eve festivities, we selected Hurricane Mountain as our New Year's Day 2016 objective. With a late start at 11AM after sleeping in and chowing down on a greasy breakfast, we decided to do the hike as a traverse instead of an out and back.

We set up a shuttle with two cars, leaving a car on route 9N at the Hurrican Mountain trailhead, near the Baxter Mountain trailhead. We drove to our starting point on the Hurricane Road, and turned right onto O'Toole Road that took us to a trailhead that also provides access to the Nun-da-ga-o Ridge and Big Crow Mountain. The actual road to the trailhead itself was not fully plowed, which added an extra 5min walk on a snow covered road to the actual trailhead. We decided to forego signing in at the register, as we knew doing a traverse we would not be returning to sign out. 

The route started with a flat mile or so warm up on a broken trail. Once turning right at the junction and rock hopping over a brook, the trail gradually ascended the 2000ft over 2 miles or so. Temperatures were around -8C/17F. The trail was snow covered, so I wore my microspikes the entire way for extra traction. The ascent travelled through beautiful birch forests, and we all remarked how enjoyable the trail was. Nearing the 3600ft height, the winds picked up and the temperatures plummeted. We stopped at the junction about 100ft below the summit, donned our down and windshells and ascended to the open rocky summit just to be blown off by 50mph/80kph winds. 

Picture
Approaching the summit. Feeling the full impact of the wind.
My first reaction was that Hurricane Mountain really lives up to its name! The winds were unreal, and like I have experienced before in the Adirondacks, I was barely able to stand on two feet and keep exposed skin from freezing. One of the cool features of this mountain is the newly renovated firetower, which serves as a 'cool' lookout point off the summit and has fabulous views. Temperatures with the windchill were in the -25C/-13F range, so the firetower was cool indeed.  I actually never went up the firetower, as I could barely stand up as it was, along with the other 2 women in our group. The two guys braved the wind and cold and got some fantastic shots from the firetower!

We descended down and out of the wind back to the junction where we fueled up with lunch and hot bevvies  before our descent. The 3.4mile/5.5km trail back down to route 9N was very enjoyable with the snow cover we had. The gliding motion of snow descents is easy on the joints and allows for faster movement. We seemed to effortlessly fly down the trail it seemed to be over before I knew it. About 1km/0.6miles away from the car, there is a nice lookout point above a rocky cliff. A fantastic short Adirondack hike and highly recommended. I would most definitely do it again. 

The totals for the trip: 10.5km/7miles, 3.5hours
Picture
You wouldn't think we were lacking in snow from up here at 3700ft!
The girls huddle on the summit
Back at the junction out of the wind
Mike checks out the firetower.
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BENNIES BROOK SLIDE, LOWER WOLFJAW MOUNTAIN

2/1/2016

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Bennies Brook slide on Lower Wolfjaw Mountain near Keene Valley, New York was created by Hurricane Irene back in late August 2011. This moderate grade 'slide', as they are called in the Adirondacks, is essentially a wide path created or enlarged by a intense weather event and the steep topography (avalanche, mudslide etc). For adventurers, it's another way to summit the 4173ft/1272m peak of Lower Wolfjaw. The slide path climbs 2000ft/609m and finishes close to the summit.

With the late arrival of winter in 2015, we chose this moderate objective because the snow and thin ice cover left steeper slide objectives out of the question. Our group members were all well equipped with the proper equipment for the winter conditions we were facing (crampons, ice axes, etc), and we all had previous training and experience with mountaineering.

The most popular way to approach the slide is to park at the Garden parking lot outside Keene Valley and use an abandoned trail to get to John's Brook. After reaching the brook, you simply cross it by rock hopping, then walk along the Southside river trail and reach the base of the slide an hour or so later. Unfortunately today John's Brook's river flow was too high to cross with the recent snowfall and rain, so we had to return to the main trail to the John's Brook Lodge area and cross the bridge and then having to backtrack about 1km. In total, this probably added about 1km/0.6miles to our day. Temperatures were slightly above freezing at the base and slightly below freezing at the summit.
John's Brook
Bridge over John's Brook
The base of the slide is littered with tree debris. On December 31st ice was emerging and the ground was snow covered. We began up the first steep pitch to access the main slide path. Snow made the ground grippy, and movement was similar to hiking a trail.

The lower sections of the slide were fairly easy to walk without traction devices. As the slide path's ascent angle increased we darted into the trees on the side of the slide (climber's right) and took a short break out of the wind to fuel up, put on crampons, and get out our ice axes.
Debris pile at the base of Bennies Brook Slide looking down toward John's Brook.
Hiking the bottom half of Bennies Brook Slide
The upper half of the slide posed a number of ice covered ledges about 2-12 feet in height. Most of these ledges or slabs forced our bodies to have all four limbs contacting the surface for various lengths of time. On this day there was enough ice on the rock that we were able to front-point our crampons and swing and stick our mountaineering axes to ascend the ledges. Easier ascent paths could have been used along the edges of the slide, but as ice climbers and mountaineers eager to practice a variety of skills, we generally chose the most sporting route up the middle.
Beginning the upper half of Bennies Brook Slide
Ascending some of the larger ice ledges with crampons and axes.
The difficulty of these ledges with this equipment was easy. Falling was only mildly consequential and we all commented on how much fun the ascent was. The last and steepest 20ft pitch of rock just under the summit could however be consequential. We chose to exit just below this section because of the thin ice and snow cover, our exposure, and lack of harnesses, rope, and protection devices. This section could be climbed under different conditions.
Ascending some smaller ledges on Bennies Brook
Ascending on all fours on Bennies Brook
With about 150ft to go below the summit, you need to bushwhack for approximately 2 minutes onto the main hiking trail exiting the slide on the left. After 5 minutes of hiking on the main trail, you reach the main summit area. You can then choose to exit the summit on one of three different hiking trails. On this day, we chose to descend via Roostercomb Mountain back to Keene Valley, and avoid a slushy 5km/3mile walk back to the Garden. Our competent group thoroughly enjoyed this winter ascent and would return to repeat it in the future either as a summer hike, a touring ski (with descent back down), or another winter light mountaineering ascent. A fantastic moderate slide and highly recommended.

Our day finished with 17.5km/10.5miles, 3900ft/1200m ascent, in 8hours.
Picture
Bennies Brook Slide top section. We exited on the left just above where the highest person is in this photo.
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    Canadian gal hooked on pursuing outdoor adventures, testing outdoor gear, and a passion for outdoor education.

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