Winter Camping In Keene Valley and Lake Willoughby

I am doing a mini road trip mid December in hopes to find some Ice and explore these places. Where is a good place to pitch a tent? The more details the better

There's some chill spots on South Meadows Rd (off Adirondack Loj Rd inbetween Keen Valley and Placid), you'll probably have to shovel out, but it's a safe bet to find a spot back there, I always sleep like a little lamb. No bear boxes though, so plan to hang your chow.

You will have your choice of campsites at the campground accessed by a small road 400 yards north of the chapel pond. Before the snow gets deep, this area is accessible by car and people will park down there for climbing in Chapel Pond canyon.

Theres also primitive sites a couple hundred yards up from the roaring brook trailhead.

As far as Keen goes there are some pretty good free spots right next to Chappel Pond. Access to them however may be a bit tricky if there is alot of snow. You may have to park at Chappel and walk down the road to get to them, usually you can drive right in in the summer. I'd also call the Mountaneer about conditions as we have been getting some pretty warm weather for this time of year.

Winter camping in the ADK's is as easy as getting 150 feet (DEC rules)or 200 feet (Leave NO Trace) from trails, and water. Do you want to walk into a place or have car access? If you want to walk into camp, then there are many options. Climbers camp ground near Chapel Pond, base of Chapel Pond Slab, or really anywhere in woods. For car access, it gets trickier, as many pull outs along route 73 are not plowed regularly. Also there is a site at the base of Roaring Brook Falls that is a short walk from the car.

So far though, this season there is no ice or much of winter conditions yet. Enjoy your trip

Chris90 wrote:I am doing a mini road trip mid December in hopes to find some Ice and explore these places. Where is a good place to pitch a tent? The more details the better

What kind of climbing do you want to do? If it's ice cragging you want, Chapel Pond is a great place. As mentioned, just park, hike 200' into the woods, and set up camp on snow. Just Leave No Trace and it's legal.

You need this book - it's a great guide and will let you pick areas which appeal to your climbing style.

mountaineer.com/store/merch…

IIRC The ADK campground at Heart Lake has one loop open all winter if you want to pay to camp. Benefit being they have reasonably priced pay showers and heated bathrooms through the winter.

does that ice climbers guide also include snow climbing/mountaineering routes as well?

T.L. Kushner wrote:does that ice climbers guide also include snow climbing/mountaineering routes as well?

I believe it's entirely ice routes. It does have Gothics in it, which I would consider alpine, but mostly traditional ice routes. New edition is supposedly in the works.

Snow climbing in the dacks aren't technical. It has Trap Dike and NFOG, and mentioned several other places.