The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
Veteran climber Don Mellor regards Free Ride on Wallface as one of the better rock-climbing routes in the East, but when he scaled it last weekend it was not the same. Mellor discovered that thousands of pounds of rock had fallen from the belay station at the end of the sixth pitch, known as the…
By Phil Brown
After lunch today, I climbed Baker Mountain for the first time since the village of Saranac Lake inaugurated its Saranac Lake 6er challenge in May. Baker always sees a lot foot traffic on a sunny summer day, but there seemed to be an unusual number of cars at the trailhead. I suspected that at least…
By Phil Brown
Soon after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, I climbed several slides in the High Peaks that had been created or much enlarged by the storm’s deluge. Some of these have become somewhat popular, such as the so-called Catastrophic Chaos on Saddleback and the slide leading from the Trap Dike to the summit of Mount Colden.…
By Phil Brown
The artist Sheri Amsel has created a beautiful map of the Champlain Valley with illustrations of region’s wildlife and habitats. It also shows the region’s many hiking trails. I suppose a hiker could fold it and put it in a backpack, but I’ll bet more people will frame it and put in on their wall.…
By Phil Brown
Some 250 new and vintage canoes will be on display at the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association’s annual assembly at Paul Smith’s College on Lower St. Regis Lake this week. More than four hundred wooden-canoe aficionados are expected to attend the assembly, which began today and will last through Sunday. The general public is welcome to…
By Phil Brown
In an article in the July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer, I examine the various options for classifying the former Finch, Pruyn lands acquired by the state from the Nature Conservancy. You can read the article here, but it also helps to peruse the table and maps included with the story. That’s what this post is…
By Phil Brown
The other day I posted an item on Adirondack Almanack about old climbing routes on Noonmark Mountain. I focused on the Wiessner Route, vertical crack rated 5.8+ on the Yosemite Decimal System scale, making it the hardest route put up by Fritz Wiessner in the Adirondacks. The post contains photos of the route and an…
By Phil Brown
Rock climbers will have a few more routes to climb this weekend, according to Joe Racette, a biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation who monitors the nesting of peregrine falcons on cliffs. Racette said the Upper Washbowl cliffs near Chapel Pond are now open to climbers. DEC closes Upper Washbowl and Lower Washbowl…
By Phil Brown
On my lunch hour, I took a short hike to check out the rock-climbing cliffs on Baker Mountain on the outskirts of Saranac Lake. A few weeks ago, a huge wall of ice hung nearby, with its tongue extending along the base of one of the routes. Today the ice was gone, and the cliffs…
By Phil Brown
On Saturday I skied Mount Marcy and was surprised at how good the snow conditions were. I began at the start of South Meadow Road and had to take my skis off only once, on a fifty-yard stretch of the Marcy Dam Truck Trail. To be sure, the trails were hard and sometimes icy on…