Winter Ascent of Tabletop

February 23, 2013

Katharina and I skied in to Marcy Dam from South Meadows. The snow was a little thin and the warm temperature today made it a little soft, but in a short amount of time we arrived at the dam. It was a very windy and starting to snow as we searched out some shelter in the trees where we stashed our skis and strapped on snowshoes for the climb up towards the Tabletop junction. We met another two pairs of folks who were headed towards Marcy during the ascent, and played leapfrog along the trail with one of them. At the Tabletop junction we took a quick break and then started the climb. The snow got deeper as we went, but the trail was well trodden, so in no time at all we arrived on the summit. Another fellow was up here and took our photo for us. With the blowing snow and clouds there unfortunately was nothing to see off the lookout towards Marcy. As it was also quite cold, we made our descent in short order. Many others were now ascending, and we said many joyful hellos to them as we slid on by. Went out to Indian Falls and had some lunch in a sheltered spot above the frozen drop off. There was not much to see here today either, so we head out again just as the fellow we met on the summit arrived. After a short chat we continued over to the Lake Arnold trail and descended back to our skis. One more short break and we skied back the truck trail. The day was now warmer and the snow was beginning to get quite mushy which made waxing tricky. We kept passing another couple (also on skis), and chatted a bit with them as we skied along. On the last stretch back to the car, we met a woman who had just completed the full traverse from Newcomb on very light skis. She claimed to have taken a significant tumble coming down from Avalanche pass and was suffering from a concussion. After making sure that she was going to be ok, and did not need a drive somewhere, we head off back to Lake Placid to a room we had rented in a private home. A nice easy climb today completed in about seven hours for my 21st winter peak.

Skiing the aproach from South Meadows.

Arriving at Marcy Dam. No much in the way of views today.

Climbing towards Marcy with a couple of post holers following.

Beginning the ascent of Tabletop.

Getting higher.

Summit!

View of Gray Peaks. I think I have seen this somewhere before.

Indian Falls.

Skiing back out at the end of the day.

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