The slides of the SE array on Colden all look about the same in winter. Except the further to the climber's left that you go the less steep they are as you near the summit. Tom (randomscooter) has declared himself to be risk averse in winter so when he mentioned doing Colden via a slide my ears perked up. All we had was snowshoes so I was somewhat skeptical and my demeanor probably demonstrated it.
We had enjoyed a leisurely, soak-up-the great-views hike up Marcy's summit cone on a cold and clear perfect winter day. Now we were on Skylight when the subject came up. As we descended the Feldspar trail we got progressively better scoping opportunities of the slide array. The "regular" slide looked icy and dicey but the further our eyes traveled to the left the better the snow conditions looked.
We settled on going up to check things out first-hand and I took a close-up picture of the array for future navigational reference. If it got too sketchy we would simply turn around and head home. As soon as we left the trail we were in glorious hot sunshine and began to feel ourselves being tugged upwards by the uppermost reaches of the mountain. We allowed ourselves to be tugged thusly but it involved some effort. This "effort" was duly rewarded with rich views and a luxurious feeling of heat on our faces.
We reached the base of the SE slide and paused for a quick conference and examined the pic in my camera. Then we made a hard left-hand turn and traversed deep snow along the base of a very cool 45 degree slope of open rock. When this came to an abrupt end we turned right and ascended to a snow field and then cut through a short section of woods. We came out at the base of the narrower, second-from-the-left slide and decided it looked like a viable option. Up we went and the snow was perfect for stable footing yet not too deep. Micromanaging the route kept us nearly always in snow whose depth was just right for our purposes.
We constantly scoured the route and we watched as the ice-plastered wall below the summit loomed closer. The wall was low and intervened between the slide and a 50-100 foot zone of gnarly cripple bush that guards the summit. We couldn't surmount this wall but we did scope it out. An ice ax would have done the trick but I may have mentioned once or twice that we lacked such a tool. So we went around, which took 2 minutes and then there ensued a fierce and exhausting battle of men against the cripplebush but the persistent men won out and soaked in the beautiful views while savoring the slide climb's delicious after-taste. We had pushed slightly against the limits of easy and reaped rewards far (hugely I'm sure Tom would agree) in excess of the investment required.
From there, now 3pm with a breeze chilling us with 10F air, it was a long and easy stroll out to the parking lot at the HPIC. In the late afternoon light the views to the south with Snowy Mtn off to the distance were other-worldly. I made an attempt at capturing the view with my camera.
PICTURES
(Someone was supposed to send me his but I think he is too busy hiking so luckily for all viewers there are no pics of me.)
We had enjoyed a leisurely, soak-up-the great-views hike up Marcy's summit cone on a cold and clear perfect winter day. Now we were on Skylight when the subject came up. As we descended the Feldspar trail we got progressively better scoping opportunities of the slide array. The "regular" slide looked icy and dicey but the further our eyes traveled to the left the better the snow conditions looked.
We settled on going up to check things out first-hand and I took a close-up picture of the array for future navigational reference. If it got too sketchy we would simply turn around and head home. As soon as we left the trail we were in glorious hot sunshine and began to feel ourselves being tugged upwards by the uppermost reaches of the mountain. We allowed ourselves to be tugged thusly but it involved some effort. This "effort" was duly rewarded with rich views and a luxurious feeling of heat on our faces.
We reached the base of the SE slide and paused for a quick conference and examined the pic in my camera. Then we made a hard left-hand turn and traversed deep snow along the base of a very cool 45 degree slope of open rock. When this came to an abrupt end we turned right and ascended to a snow field and then cut through a short section of woods. We came out at the base of the narrower, second-from-the-left slide and decided it looked like a viable option. Up we went and the snow was perfect for stable footing yet not too deep. Micromanaging the route kept us nearly always in snow whose depth was just right for our purposes.
We constantly scoured the route and we watched as the ice-plastered wall below the summit loomed closer. The wall was low and intervened between the slide and a 50-100 foot zone of gnarly cripple bush that guards the summit. We couldn't surmount this wall but we did scope it out. An ice ax would have done the trick but I may have mentioned once or twice that we lacked such a tool. So we went around, which took 2 minutes and then there ensued a fierce and exhausting battle of men against the cripplebush but the persistent men won out and soaked in the beautiful views while savoring the slide climb's delicious after-taste. We had pushed slightly against the limits of easy and reaped rewards far (hugely I'm sure Tom would agree) in excess of the investment required.
From there, now 3pm with a breeze chilling us with 10F air, it was a long and easy stroll out to the parking lot at the HPIC. In the late afternoon light the views to the south with Snowy Mtn off to the distance were other-worldly. I made an attempt at capturing the view with my camera.
PICTURES
(Someone was supposed to send me his but I think he is too busy hiking so luckily for all viewers there are no pics of me.)
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