Shot while flying into Lake Placid October 6, 2006 just before dark

My first trip back to the Daks since my spill on the Trap Dike. We did the Gothics via Orebed Brook trail. Had intentions of returning over the Wolfjaws but the snow depth in early May on the Gothics summit and into the cols was truly amazing considering this was a low snow year. I was waste deep and called it a day. We returned via the Orebed. Couldn't have been nicer.

Mineville Pillar in late season and very sun-baked conditions. Harry backed off not much after the photo was taken due to the slushy conditions

North face of Gothics in the Adirondack High Peaks. Taken Feb 11th, 2006 shortly after dawn from Big Slide Mountain.

This was taken at the top of the last climb we did on our trip to the dacks. Much fun was had, and the weather was stunning.

We just took the crampons off and were too lazy to put them back on for this little ice flow. Out came the static rope and the old school body raps.

Summit after solo slide climb of Mt Dix, North Face Slide

Great early morning hike (2am) to the summit of Algonquin for sunrise and breakfast.

The start of a great little route which moved up and out to the arete. The cliff drops away around the corning giving an amazing view and nice sense of exposure for such a short climb. Nice cliff in general.

En route to Mt. Marcy on a crisp clear day we stumbled across a breathtaking view of several Adirondack High Peaks from behind Marcy Dam, Adirondacks, NY. (Photo by Victor Barbetti)

start of the 3rd pitch - exposure intensive - loving every second of it!

A beautiful climb on a great day. Good moves, good gear and awsome exposure for such a short route.

This is a photo from our failed but sucessful and enjoyable attempt at the Great Range in late February. Instead of the Range I got Marcy, Little Haystack and Haystack in a day on a 2 night trip. Aside from the Gothics and Pyramid those are the 3 best peaks on the Range. The snow up the Marcy cutoff to Haystack was deep and unbroken. I broke trail the whole way with my partner (and human tripod) not far behind. It was steep enough to shorten the poles to almost 60cm for support. The initial few hundred feet of vertical gain was challenging and fun. I was having a blast breaking trail in 4 feet of fresh windblown powder. My partner seemed to be less excited at the deep snow. This was a contrast to the slog up Marcy. This photo was taken on the nub about 1/8 mile in front of little haystack. Marcy and Panther Gorge are in the background. Little Haystack is a beatiful little ascent in it's own right (if you break trail) and should not be missed. I highly recommend it's ascent and the deep snow made it a tough climb. I continued to Haystack in the twilight and stood on the summit in the last remanants of daylight. I was back at Slant Rock a little over 1 hour later thanks to the help of the same deep snow and steep descents, I basically skated the whole way back on my snow shoes. Attached to the front of me is the entirety of my photo gear. All self contained in a single LowePro Trekker AW chest pouch. This held everything I took (2 lenses, body, flash, filters, ex batteries, cable release, lens cleaning kit) and it counter balances the weight plus it keeps it all mounted in reach. It was the topic of discussion with at least one hiker on the trip. The only thing I don't like about the big pouch vs. my smaller pouch is that I cannot see my feet.

Morning after my sleepless night. I was so happy to have company when everyone woke up. I lied there the whole night shivering, waiting for the morning when the sun would come out. Damn Therma-Rest had a whole when I took it out the night before.

Marcel and I decided to leave our packs at the Lean-to and try to get on as much of the Range as we could. The temps were bitter. We made it to Gothics.

Here's Crista and Marcel bundled up in the Lean-To. We were crackin jokes the whole time, so they could be laughing at a joke or the fact that my therma-rest went flat and I froze the whole night.

We knew the weekend was going to be rough but how hard. We had no idea. this pic was at about 4:00 am.on the hike in. We did the trap dyke on the sat but got pushed back by the weather. great learning experience.

Just a beautiful day in the Daks. This was the first opportunity for an unobstructed viewpoint and the start of fairly open hiking. WIth the lack of snow on the ascent, it was slightly more technical then usual. Exposing a great deal of ice throughout the ascent on what is considered the easiest 4000ft peak in the Daks in any season. Even in early January snowshoes were left in the car and crampons were worn point to point, which generally is an oddity at this time of the year.

The weather forecast called for early morning snow and clearing by mid day and a clear night. I was intending to hike to Big Slide to photograph the Great Range with late afternoon/post sunset light rather than the contrasty mid afternoon light it is often photographed in from the ridge (such as this shot). Unfortunately the weather was wrong and these imprompto quasi-snapshots were the best shots of the day despite the snow in the distance. I only set up my tripod for these shots because I needed a snack and drink and the beams of light shone on the JB Valley were spectacular (far more impressive than film can record without more filtration). I took a series of shots using a 28mm and a 50mm prime and a 1 stop grad ND filter on a ultralight tripod -that I carry while hiking. But in fairly high winds I was suprised anything was sharp. I managed to get a few frames off between gust. This was the best of the bunch with the god beams in the background. By the summit of Big Slide it was pure whiteout with no oportunities to remove the camera from the chest pouch. Photo: 28mm Pentax @ f/16 @ hyperfocal distance on Kodak 400UC. Scanned using Minolta Scan Dual III and converted to B&W using channel conversion from the the original 2840dpi, 16bit scan.

A typically easy hike up the easiest 4000 footer in the Daks in any season. Conditions were great below treeline with nice clear weather. BUt we needed more snow. The ground was either barely snow covered rock or a few inches of ice covered by a coating of snow. In either case we needed crampons the entire hike from the trailhead to the summit but it was rough on the knees. The summit of Cascade is one of the best in the Daks with great views. Unfortunately, there were a few problems. 1) It was crazy windy, about 40mph+, with a below zero wind chill. 2) I stripped the roll of film out of it's sprockets while taking some summit shots. Not sure if it was the cold or not but when I got it home there was still about 4 frames left on the roll. This was a first. My wife is the hiker and while she's done most of the Catskill 3500 in the winter, this was only her second winter 4000 footer in the Daks. 28mm @ hyperfocal, f/16, ~1/30, fuji 100.

A hiker leaning over the railing of Marcy Dam taking in the view of the mountains. Kind of looked like an water color painting.

Here is the view from Marcy Dam. The mountains crawl up into the white void. Colden to the left with her slab.

I love this shot. On the way back down the steep descent of Mt. Colden we found a cave with this opening. Out that window is a steep slab that drops down. But this view of the high peaks and Keene Valley are awesome. I wish I had brought 200 speed film it seems alittle grainy and maybe I should have zoomed in more the make the frame not as strong. Maybe I'll go back some day get it right and be worthy of a high-res. pic.

So many boulders on the side of Mt. Colden. It was like a play ground. An excuse to be a kid for a moment. This is the slab just outside that cave window. I didn't monkey around too much on this. The camera may not catch the angle but the slab drops down about 20/25ft. then beyond that if you don't jump at the last second to the other boulder you fall into a 7 foot gap between another big boulder which takes you down about another 20 to 30ft.

Up above looks like a place to exit but it's not. You have to keep going for a bit. This class 4 was so cool. Photo by John (backspace)