4,240 feet | ranked 28/46 in height | 9th peak climbed (repeat)
Whiteface and Esther are the northern-most of the Adirondack high peaks, set well apart from the rest. Due to that separation, Whiteface is easy to identify from a distance, especially given the distinctive slides, ski slopes, and castle-like structure perched up top. On the Saturday morning of our climb, we picked it out on the drive to the trailhead without those giveaway landmarks: it was the one entirely ensconced in clouds. My companion for this hike was my sister, Erin. We parked at the ASRC just after 8 am, and after a few minutes of last minute gear shuffling, we set off.
Having climbed Esther in 2007 from the same trailhead, I knew the trail starts rising very steeply just past White Brook, and continues straight up for nearly a mile, the type of steady ascent that results in much profuse sweating. With that knowledge, I didn’t layer up much at the start, just a short sleeve wicking shirt with it’s long sleeve mate on top. Still, the air temperatures had not yet reached 40°F, and the first few minutes of the hike are downhill. It was cold! But the ascent of Marble Mountain was just as I remembered, and once we’d been at that for a few minutes, all sensations of coldness quickly faded.
We reached the waypoint of Marble Mountain around 9 am, and found some new cairns leading to the junction with the Wilmington Trail. But before moving onward and upward, we took a break to soak in the views from Marble Mountain. The clouds hadn’t burned off yet and were still socking in some distant peaks, but we were low enough to be under them and could see sun shining down in the valley. Although the views were lovely, we didn’t stay long, as the wind was whipping fiercely, making our backs contract in painfully icy horror whenever the sweat-soaked shirts made contact with skin.
Happy to have the most grueling part of
the hike behind us, we continued the ascent. After reaching the
plateau of Lookout Mountain, we started to see little bits of ice
littering the mossy forest floor adjacent to the trail. By this time
the clouds had burned off to a beautiful clear blue sky. Erin
spied a balsam spire coated with ice, and we deduced that the
sunshine was melting the ice enough to drop it off the trees. Oddly,
this made us giddy with joy, and we scooped up handfuls of the stuff
and took lots of silly pictures. Little did we know the icy splendor
that awaited further up.
Balsam spire covered with ice |
We soon got our next taste of the
development that makes Whiteface so different from the other high
peaks, encountering a freshly cut downhill ski slope. The Olympic
Regional Development Authority recently expanded the existing
multitude of ski slopes onto Lookout Mountain, and the red-marked
Wilmington hiking trail crosses over the intermediate level
Wilmington ski trail. Let me just say that downhill ski trails are
not particularly attractive without a forgiving layer of snow, and
leave it at that.
Further along the trail, a large clearcut was visible to the east, so we picked our way over to have a look. It was the triple chairlift providing access to the trail we’d crossed, along with the expert level Hoyt's High trail. We basked in the sun briefly, and even found a thermometer hung on the snow-making equipment that showed the temperature to have finally reached exactly 40°F (albeit in the sun).
Further along the trail, a large clearcut was visible to the east, so we picked our way over to have a look. It was the triple chairlift providing access to the trail we’d crossed, along with the expert level Hoyt's High trail. We basked in the sun briefly, and even found a thermometer hung on the snow-making equipment that showed the temperature to have finally reached exactly 40°F (albeit in the sun).
Moving along, we soon came to the next sign of development: the huge
rock embankment holding up the Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial
Highway. A quick scramble over loose boulders put us over the wall,
and we found ourselves in the incongruous position of standing on the
side of the road, with an interpretive sign and a tidily painted
crosswalk to safely usher automotive visitors across from a small
parking area. Whiteface is so bizarre.
Spying the red blaze
of the Wilmington Trail tacked to a balsam sapling on a looming
boulder high above us, we scrambled up, happy to turn away from the
highway and begin the final ascent. At this point, even though it was
nearly 11:30 am, everything was covered with a thick layer of rime
ice. We were high on the mountain, mostly just scrambling over bare
rock, with tiny krummholz balsams the only remaining trees. We took
several successive breaks, to add layers against the wind and to snap
photos. It was spectacularly beautiful, and we were in solid
agreement that this was out favorite part of the hike.
My sister at the highway wall |
View down, with Esther to the left |
Getting higher... |
Detail of ice on balsam |
The summit of Whiteface is a very strange place. The highway goes
nearly to the top, with a short 0.2 mile “nature trail” to the
summit with concrete steps and hand rails, and for those who find
that too rigorous, there is an elevator built into the core of the
mountain. The Wilmington trail deposits the sweaty hiker right on the
summit, surrounded by milling motorists dressed in a gamut of
inappropriate clothing (flip flops and high heels were among the most
egregious offenders). One nice feature is an interpretive sign
labeling the distant summits in the heart of the high peaks. After
snapping the requisite photos, we went inside the building to look at
the displays, which seemed to be equally focused on the many types of
ice found above treeline, and old black & white photographs of
dignitaries on skis.
Interpretive sign |
At the summit |
Then we decided to walk down the “nature trail” to check out the concession stand, which was replete with modern plumbing, kitschy gifts, and cafeteria style food. [Full disclosure: we had cups of broccoli cheddar soup along with some of the food we’d carried up, meaning of course we had to haul some of our supplies to back down again uneaten.] Then, for the experience of being inside the core of the mountain, we waited in line to ride the elevator back up to the top with the spiffy tourists. Looking at our watches before beginning our descent, we were shocked to realize it was 2 pm and we’d been on the summit for nearly two hours. But look at that view!
Summit view toward Lake Placid |
An hour later, we were back down to the
junction with the unmaintained trail to Esther. Since I’d already tagged Esther, I had told Erin that the decision about whether
to add Esther to the hike was entirely up to her. It is only 1.2 easy
miles from the Wilmington Trail out to the Esther summit, and given
that we had plenty of daylight left, she didn’t hesitate to push on
to Esther. So out we went, making good time, arriving at the summit
at 3:30 pm. We spent 30 minutes taking photos, lolling in the sun,
and snacking before heading out, arriving back at the Wilmington
Trail junction at 4:30 pm. One nice thing about Esther is the
solitude. Despite the busy nature of Whiteface and the Wilmington
Trail, we didn’t see any other humans the whole way out to Esther
or back.
Esther summit marker: "for the sheer joy of climbing" |
The rest of the descent was uneventful,
and we were back to the vehicle by 6 pm. We’d forgotten to bring
spare shoes for a quick change of footwear, but did have a cooler
with cans of V8, which always tastes great after sweating like crazy
for hours on end. Even though Whiteface would rank low on the list of
repeatable hikes due to all the development, it was a gorgeous day,
and we had a blast. The rime ice was a special and unexpected joy.
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