Anybody who pays attention to the photo credits in the Adirondack Explorer knows how much we rely on the work of Carl Heilman II to enliven our pages. In our next issue, we plan to run Carl’s photos of the Eagle Slide on Giant Mountain–which many people regard as the most spectacular slide in the Adirondacks.
I climbed the Eagle last month with Carl and Eli Bickford, a twelve-year-old boy who loves slides. Besides taking photos, Carl shot the video embedded below. The short clip shows me ascending a crack near the top of the slide. I advise those wondering about the steepness of the Eagle to watch it.
Just a background note: I climbed the crack twice, because the video recorder was not turned on the first time. At the start of the clip, I am getting in position for the second attempt. Also, I had badly scraped my fingers in a slip earlier in the day, so they were more or less useless at this point. I relied on my palms and my feet to get me up.
Look for a full report in the November/December issue.
Impressive, especially for a man who had just left his fingertips on a rock face.
Julia, 5 weeks later, they’re almost healed. Thanks for the comment.
Phil,
My palms were getting sweaty just watching you do that.
Jim
Jim, it’s not as hard as it might appear.