W46er Finish - Seymour

February 5, 2023

This summit was postponed for nearly three years as the world worked out how to deal with Covid. After two winters of sticking close to home, the hike was finally back on in 2023.

Paul picked me up in the early morning and we drove down to Tupper Lake and then on towards Corey's road. The road was plowed and we had no problems getting to the summer trailhead and by 09:00 we were signing into the trail register and then gliding down the well packed trail on our skis. After the first couple of short climbs, it was clear that Paul's wax needed a bit of adjustment so we stopped to remedy that. As he peeled back some or the metal of the wax cannister, he somehow managed to inflict a nasty slice through the flesh of his finger. As he continued waxing while dripping blood into the snow, I dug into my pack to retrieve the first aid kit. One bandaid later, the skis and finger were both smoothed out and we continued onwards down the trail.

Well packed trail, but snow a little bit on the thin side for skiing

The skiing went quickly, with a few blow downs and many open creeks to hop over. We took a quick break at Blueberry Lean2 and then passed a group of three on their way back out from an early morning ascent of Seymour. Nice... looks like we probably will have a broken trail all the way! We skied up the Seymour herd path for about three or four hundred meters, at which point the narrow, zig-zagging trail made the skis impractical. We switched over to snowshoes.

Stepping over one of the dozen or so creeks

The climbing was fairly straight forward all the way to the top, with a few small ice bulges where an axe was handy. After four and a half hours of travel we found ourselves looking out at Santanonis, MacIntyres, and even Marcy in the distance, completing a journey that had begun in 2009. It was almost a bit of a let down that this peak had gone so smoothly with little challenge, after spending so many exhausting outings on other peaks, breaking trail in neck deep snow drifts or scratching up icy rock faces in crampons. Some words of wisdom were received from a fellow hiker we met in the pub later on in the evening; "Sometimes the climb just goes right".

Grunting up the steeps

Summit and a new winter 46er!

Looking out towards the big ones in the distance

Seward and friends almost close enough to touch

After a few photos we turned around and trundled over to the lookout ledge, but it was far too windy to take a break here. We scarfed down some energy bars and then plunged back down the trail to our skis. A quick glide further had us at Ward Brook lean2 where we sheltered and ate a proper lunch along with some lukewarm drinks from the thermoses.

Lunch at Ward Brook

The ski out was a little soft in the warm afternoon air, but went quickly as it is mostly downhill. We arrived back at the parking lot just as the light was beginning to fade, finishing an eight hour day and a fourteen year journey of winter peaks in the Adirondacks.

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