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By Phil Brown
He had a watch but was afraid to look at it. Instead he tried to gauge time by the slow movement of the stars across the sky. Alas, he forgot that he set his watch alarm for 4 a.m. “When it went off, I was disappointed,” he said. “I knew I had to wait some more.”…
By Phil Brown
When I skied to Avalanche Lake a week ago, the bottom of the Trap Dike in Mount Colden didn’t have much snow. Evidently, there is enough snow higher up to ski the dike and the upper slide. The video below is from Drew Haas. 2/20/2012 from ADKBCSKI on Vimeo.
The round trip to Raquette Falls is an ideal ski in winters with a dearth of snow. By Phil Brown By early January, we were desperate. We had enough snow to ski the Whiteface Mountain toll road, local golf courses, and a few easy trails, but that was it. As the ski-less days dragged on,…
By Phil Brown
We sent files for the March/April Explorer to the print shop Monday, so I took the next day off to ski to Avalanche Pass and, given the dearth of snow this winter, was surprised at the quality of the skiing. I also tried out our new Go Pro video camera during the descent of…
Despite lack of snow, most cross-country facilities manage to stay open. By Rick Karlin Donald Preuninger and Brian McDonnell have something in common: they both took over cross-country-ski centers before one of the warmest and driest winters in recent memory. But they aren’t complaining about the weather—not too much, anyway. “I can’t tell you we’re…
By Phil Brown
We’ve seen many photos of the Adirondacks taken on blue-sky days with puffy clouds or during sunsets when the horizon is ablaze with red, orange, and purple. We’ve seen far fewer taken in the middle of a blinding blizzard or horrific rainstorm. If you have one, you might submit it to Teton Gravity Research’s Gnarliest…
By Phil Brown
We finally got a bit of snow in Saranac Lake. Not enough for backcountry skiing, but enough to get you thinking about it. On my lunch hour yesterday, I hiked Baker Mountain and took the photo above. The few inches we got might be enough to ski on golf courses, the Whiteface highway, and a…
By Evan Williams On a brisk winter day, my dad and I set out for a snowshoe excursion up Mount Arab, a small peak with a restored fire tower west of Tupper Lake and a panoramic view of the northern Adirondacks. Because the climb to the 2,545-foot summit is only a mile, with an elevation…
DEC’s decision not to rebuild the structure at Duck Hole raises questions about the future of other artificial lakes in the Forest Preserve. By Phil Brown Before Tropical Storm Irene, hikers had urged the state to repair the old logging dam at Duck Hole to preserve its impoundment, a charming brook-trout pond ringed by mountains…
Secluded pass offers winter adventurers beauty, solitude, and a good run back. By Phil Brown When I was a novice backcountry skier, I once climbed to Klondike Notch, the pass between Howard and Yard mountains in the High Peaks Wilderness, and endured a frightful descent on the way back, falling on my butt a few…