Soon the troublesome sub-summit was behind, and we started our 'real' descent down. The warmer temps of the afternoon in combination with the south-facing aspect of the descent slope meant that there were some very slippery areas of melt-freeze, requiring quite a bit of caution to negotiate. The sections were too short to warrant switching into crampons, but still high enough and steep enough to result in a nasty injury if you weren't careful. This was probably the most trying part of today's hike.
I also [stupidly] managed to lose [yet another] pair of MEC sunglasses along this stretch. If anyone sees them, they are black/dark grey in color. If you don't want to give them back to me, at least take them and use them. Better that than to just let them litter the ground. After all, they are only a little over a month old!
Jackrabbit Trail, East End
Soon the steep and slippery bit of trail was behind us, and in short order we arrived at the junction with the Jackrabbit ski trail. This we took, heading east. The hard, flat and wide surface of the trail meant we could walk much faster, and we managed this last 4-ish km of trail (2.5 miles) bit of trail in less than 45 minutes. We reached the Whiteface Inn Road at 3:45pm, meaning we would still arrive at Peggy's place at a decent time.
Beers at Peggy's Place
All in all, a decent trip up a set of peaks with reasonably decent views. The clear day combined with what were probably the best snow conditions I've ever hiked with in the Adirondacks no doubt contributed to the fun factor. And now there's a decent tracklog to help people stay on the trail!
Rich and Peggy's Beer Fridge
We drove the short distance between our trailhead and downtown Lake Placid (another reason why I chose this hike today), and arrived at Peggy's house around 4pm. Rich (Peggy's husband) greeted us, as Peggy had gone to do a bit of set up at the hotel where the winter dinner was being held (she'd spent the earlier part of the day taking a New York Times reporter up Mount Jo as part of an
NYT writeup on the Winter 46rs).
2010 W46r Dinner
Rich treated very warmly, giving us access to a most ingenious 'beer fridge' (I don't just mean a fridge with beer.... I mean a real 'beer fridge' -- complete with modifications including two beer taps drilled right through the front door). We sat out back around a wood fire, enjoying a taste of 46r ale before heading off to the dinner.
Achievement Badges
The winter dinner was held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Lake Placid, as it usually is. It was nice to see people we'd met and hiked with over the years in the 'daks, including Mark and Linda, who we'd helped finish the (their) winter 46 back in 2007 on Hough. The New York Times reporter was there too, jotting down notes for her writeup in the Sunday news (again, you can read her New York Times article on the Winter 46rs
here).
Bob Collin's Talk
Peggy had a guest speaker a the 2010 dinner: Bob Collin - a legendary northeast winter mountaineer from the Rochester Winter Mountaineering Society (in fact, he founded the society roughly four decades ago). He gave a quite interesting speech and slide show about the nature of winter hiking in the northeast back then: attitudes and gear have sure changed a lot since. In fact, he had to manufacture much of his own winter gear back then, since much of it simply wasn't available: winter tents, metal snowshoes, etc. A great talk.
After this, the newly-minted winter 46rs for 2010 each stood up and said a few words about their experiences and thoughts about their journeys to this point. All gave excellent short speeches about their trials, successes, failures, and favorites. Well done.
McKenzie Mountains Traverse
Hike Data - MckEnzie Mountains Traverse
Start Time:
8:11a.m.
End Time:
3:46p.m.
Duration:
7h35m
Distance:
16.44 km
(10.22 mi)
Average Speed:
2.2 km/hr
(1.3 mph)
Start Elevation:
1904ft
(580m)
*
Max Elevation:
3960ft
(1207m)
*
Min Elevation:
1869ft
(570m)
*
End Elevation:
1910ft
(582m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
3070ft
(936m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
3041ft
(927m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
