Iroquois and Algonquin

November 14, 2009

With the help of Ivan Wood, I led a group of thirteen ACC hikers to attempt a three peak day of Iroquois, Algonquin, and Wright. It was very warm for November, but also very cloudy as we left. By the time we reached Marcy dam it started to drizzle a bit. We hiked through Avalanche Pass, which was pretty spectacular with the rocky cliffs and Avalanche paths off of Mount Colden. When we arrived at Avalanche Lake, one person was having some difficulty with his knee so he decided to head back at this point, which left us with a group of twelve. The trail around Avalanche lake is very fun with lots of broken boulders, ladders, bridges, and a couple sections of boardwalk that are bolted right into the sides of the cliffs. After about three hours we began our ascent. To keep things moving during the scramble we split into two groups with myself leading a group of nine, and Ivan with a group of three. The next hour and a half was spent scrambling up a very steep trail. We began to hit a bit of ice at around 3500 feet, but not enough to bother with any traction aids. We reached the saddle and hunkered down in the wind, and now driving rain and ate a brief lunch. About 10 minutes later Ivan's party arrived. Due to the miserable weather they were not keen on doing Iroquois, so we parted ways at this point. They went directly over Algonquin and then down. My group went over to Iroquois, which had a little bit of ice on the steeper parts, but with a couple whacks with an adze, and judicious foot placement, everyone managed to get up safely. The summit was crazy. The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to stand up. We quickly snapped a couple summit photos and immediately got off of there. Just as we were about to descend the ledge off the summit, a huge gust of wind blew and we all dropped to our knees until it eased off a bit so we could scramble down. We went back to the junction and then began our ascent up Algonquin. The wind was a little calmer at this point but it was still pouring rain. We spent another brief moment at the summit (could not even get the whole group together for a photo), and then began our descent down the north face. More ice was encountered on the way down, some of it tricky to get around, but there was still not enough for crampons. After a while we reached the Wright junction, and due to the miserable weather, common consensus was quickly reached to save Wright for a nicer day. The rest of the descent was long, wet, but fairly easy going. At least it was warm, because all of us were completely soaked at this point. We arrived at the parking lot nine hours after starting, and relaxed in the warmth of the ADK lodge with some warm drinks before heading into Lake Placid for some beer and greasy pizza.

The herd coming down the Van Hoevenburg Expressway.