moderate mountaineering stuff in the Adirondacks?

Just looking for some not to intense over night stuff in the dacks. Some sort of steep not to terrible approach would be nice, but it is the Dacks so I know the drill. A little out of the way would be good. been on alot of trails in the summer but few in winter so any help would be appreciated.

Pooler

P.S. I'm also lookin for crazy mofo's to go out with me

You sure? Overnight camping this time of the year is pretty intense (and boring in the high peaks due to the lack of camp fire + long night + intense cold = lots of laying around waiting for the sun). You aren't going to do much outside for long during the winter months in the high peaks without a degree of "intens"ity.

Most "mountaineering" would be at or above 3500 feet, and camping is discouraged even during the winter at those elevations. If you plan to climb back down to proper elevation that's another story. Since mountaineering is desired, you will likely be focusing on the high peaks area.

A few years back we did the North Face slide on Gothics. But we stayed at one of the cabins run/rented by the ADK Club (think it was Grace Camp). Great time regardless of us 'cheating' having the cushy accommodations waiting after.

Gothics also has the standard routes on its west face, WI2 and long (guessing ~1500 feet/calf burner).

Gothics works well because there's (free and paid) camping at Ore bed lean-to and nearer to John's Brook.

Not much requires an overnight in the park and carrying sleeping gear makes for more of a slog. That being said, there's plenty of slides, the Trap Dike on Colden, the Case Route on Wallface, the North Face of Gothics, Aghartha on the South Face of Marcy, among others... Many of these require the right conditions or you could be postholing yourself into oblivion or putting yourself at avalanche risk (or, more likely, both). Your best bet is if you haven't been in the park in winter is just to start linking peaks along the Great Range by the normal trails and scope out the objectives above. Not a backcountry climb, but the Cascade Slide above the Waterfall in Cascade Pass is classic as well.

My $0.02 - anyone looking for "mountaineering" adventure in the ADKs should start with lots of winter peaks climbed by the usual trails. The ascents mentioned above are for the most part high commitment ascents. Agartha is especially serious; you can die back there. Heck, you can die on many of these, Trap Dike I think has killed more than one climber. The difference with Agartha is that no one would find your body for years. There's a dead hiker in that area that's been unfound after 15 years.

thanks for the input guys. For the record I have done tons of winter camping in the Dacks so that part doesn't scare me I have all the right gear for it. That being said there is no way I'd stay above the 3500 foot fire line i would most certainly hike back down so i could have a fire. I tried the over 3500 camping in winter once and Kevin is right not much fun. Think I might try a high peak or two first. Any suggestions on the better winter peaks? Any input would be appreciated thanks again

Pooler

Santanoni peak. There's one that would fun to split into two days.

Dix (from Round Pond. Stay in the leanto if you want to do it as a 2 day outing), Gothics via Orebed Bk trail (camping poss. at /near leanto), Giant via Ridge trail, Wright or Algonquin if you want a well-traveled trail.

pooler wrote:thanks for the input guys. For the record I have done tons of winter camping in the Dacks so that part doesn't scare me I have all the right gear for it. That being said there is no way I'd stay above the 3500 foot fire line i would most certainly hike back down so i could have a fire. I tried the over 3500 camping in winter once and Kevin is right not much fun. Think I might try a high peak or two first. Any suggestions on the better winter peaks? Any input would be appreciated thanks again Pooler

That 'fire line' is correct outside of the Eastern High Peaks. In the EHP there's no fires, anytime of the year. That would be from Tabletop/Phelps, Great Range, through Colden, Algonquin/marshall, Big Slide, Cascade/Porter, etc.

dec.ny.gov/regs/13942.html

"e. Campfire restrictions.

1. No person shall ignite or maintain a campfire for any purpose at any location in the Eastern High Peaks Zone.

2. No person shall ignite or maintain a campfire for any purpose at any location which is situated above 4,000 feet in elevation in the Western High Peaks zone.

3. At elevations of 4,000 feet or less in the Western High Peaks Zone and in the Adirondack Canoe Route Zone, no person shall ignite or maintain a campfire for any purpose at any location within 150 feet from any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other body of water except that a campfire may be ignited or maintained at a primitive tent site or lean-to site."

Eastern High Peaks:

practicaloutdoors.com/photo…