When a binding breaks in the backcountry
By Phil Brown
He figured he’d have to walk back to the car or, at best, try to gingerly schuss down the road with a broken binding. All that uphill climbing for naught.
winter
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Alpine enchantment on ice
By Phil Brown
Avalanche Mountain Gully lies across the lake from the Trap Dike. It’s an old climb that rated a brief mention in Tom Rosecrans’s 1976 guidebook “Adirondack Rock and Ice Climbs,” the first guidebook to catalog the region’s ice routes.
Northville-Placid Trail humbles winter hikers
“I have a respectable hiking resume, and this is the first thing I've set out to do and was simply not successful."
Grassroots trails grow in Tupper Lake
By Mike Lynch
The trail system consists of nearly five miles of groomed trails and another mile-long spur trail that connects to the currently shuttered Big Tupper Ski Area. The system is a big upgrade from where it started in 2008 when the main focus was skiing the golf course, which is owned by the town and leased to the Tupper Lake Country Club from the spring to the fall.
Skiing the Hanging Spear Falls Loop
The Hanging Spear Falls loop is probably the best backcountry ski tour in the Adirondacks that no one knows about. It’s surprising that it’s not on more cross-country skiing lists, because it integrates some of the best of the southern High Peaks: lots of views of mountains, a ski across the dramatic Flowed Lands, and an exciting ski out along the Calamity Brook Trail.
Tracking Adirondack animals
By Mike Lynch
A group of snowshoers led by guide Elizabeth Lee look for animal tracks in the snow near Pok-o-moonshine.
Giving winter a hand at Mount Van Ho
By Mike Lynch
Mount Van Hoevenberg manager Kris Cheney-Seymour said the short ski season goaded the center to find a way to stay open longer in warm winters. By the following winter, Van Ho had installed a snowmaking system known as the Snow Factory. The result: it stayed open 137 days last season.
Revisiting a classic Adirondack ski
By Phil Brown
On a clear day, skiers can obtain a spectacular view from the middle of the frozen Avalanche Lake of Algonquin Peak, Avalanche Pass, and Mount Colden.
Dealing with climate change
By Mike Lynch
The state, local towns, and individuals are taking steps to adapt to life in a warming world. By MIKE LYNCH The Adirondack Park is already experiencing the impacts of climate change. Lakes and ponds are covered with ice for fewer days than they were a century ago; spring is starting earlier in the lower elevations; and storms are becoming more intense and frequent.…
St. Regis Mountain
An old favorite in winter If you’re heading up St. Regis Mountain, bring your skis and your snowshoes. By Phil Brown Last winter, my daughter Becky and her fiancé, Joe, wanted to climb one of the Saranac Lake 6, so we snowshoed up St. Regis Mountain. Although I like St. Regis—with its marvelous views of ponds and lakes—I am not an…