....of Santanoni Peak.
Click on the thumbnail image.
I thought I'd go back and check out the Twin Slide on Santanoni Peak. Mavs and I went up it in 2009, the day it became legal thanks to the Open Space Institute's purchase of a tract of land. To access it you had to bushwhack about a mile from the Bradley Pond Trail and detour around a big swamp that is fed by the slide's drainage.
Then in 2014 the Nature Conservancy turned an abutting and much bigger tract (Macintyre West) over to the the state and this opened a different access to the slide. That's what I decided to check out.
I walked about a mile past the Bradley Pond turnoff on the Santanoni Road and when I reached a certain waypoint I had uploaded in my GPS I began what I hoped to be a much improved whack to the slide. Within 10 minutes I hit a different gravel road, which was going my way, and when it ended I picked up very old logging roads and by keeping track with the GPS I was able to connect a series of these roads and get quite close to the slide drainage.
Once on the creek I rock-hopped upwards until it opened up and became more slide-like. I had to go in and out of and criss-cross the actual drainage several times due to cliff walls. When the rock was wet it was treacherously and stressfully slippery. This was a pervading theme that would get more intense as I went up. I had decided to follow the left fork of the slide (see first pic) but I walked right by the split after looking at it and deciding that it wasn't the correct one. There are a few branches to this slide and many are dead-ends. After 300 feet of climbing the incorrect fork I finally realized the error of my ways and went back down to the fork. Ascending the lower left fork drainage was quite narrow and steep and very slimy. Massive choke stones blocked the way. Things were a bit dicey at a couple of junctures and I made some little moves of faith. I was thinking that descending that section would be very tricky but that I would best save the worry about that for later.
The left fork opened up and lay back somewhat so the going became a lot easier. The sun was blazing hot for October and the fall colors were at peak. Clear skies made for perfect viewing of many high peaks but little Mount Andrew, all red and yellow and right in my face was the dominant feature. The upper section of the slide was mostly sand and gravel and a bit of a slog. Embedded rocks were unstable and I was paranoid that if I disturbed the very big ones they would yield to the pull of gravity and take me down and bury me. This never happened so here I am telling the tale.
Near the top I hit a small cliff wall that I had to detour around through very thick woods. However, I found that by getting just a bit further away from the sun-drenched edge of said woods that seams opened up nicely. I thus made a wide end run and noted that gaining the top of the Santa ridge would be do-able, if very steep. I went back to the slide but now I was at the very steep headwall. I thought maybe I could scramble up along the edge of it. Then I thought about my precarious position all alone and far away and I wisely chickened out. I continued to climb in the steep woods and it was quite exhausting because it was so steep and the ground layer was probably 75% air into which I often sank, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes rather quickly.
I went back to check out a cliff that was above the headwall and got into a very narrow channel of an ancient slide track. The cliff in question was part of the main slide (see first pic again). The soil layer was thin and offered great footing but the balsam and spruce branches were horrendous so I got out of there and found more seams.
Up on the ridge I caught my breath and my chest quit pounding. I felt very alone in this very isolated place up on the narrow tree-choked ridge very far from anywhere. The wind was blowing and it felt cold because I was drenched in sweat. I looked at a bump, 400 yards south of me and decided I was not going there just to turn around and come back. The point on the ridge above the Erminebrook Slide was yet another 400 yards away but it might as well have been 400 miles. It was noon and I was 4h30m out and the intermediate bump looked like it would take an hour to reach in the thick woods. This ridge is best traversed on spring snow-pack, which I did in 2009.
Going down was a smooth ride. I had to go slowly but in no time it seemed I was back out on the sunny slide. Now I sought out the sand I had avoided earlier and that gave me quick and easy descending, although I always felt that taking great care was the way to go. I dislodged a few rocks but nothing too big. The narrow, steep and slimy section turned out not to be as hard as I feared but overall the 2000 feet of descent, carefully avoiding any wet surfaces, took its toll and I was glad to be on level ground. Back on the old roads again I explored a variation which brought me to the Santanoni road a bit closer to the parking lot and in doing so I discovered still more roads.
Doing a traverse that includes both the Erminebrook and Twin slides is a fantastic adventure but I would prefer to do it on deep spring crust. I would ascend the Twin on hard crust and descend the gentler Erminebrook in the afternoon's softer snow, which is the opposite to what I did in '09.
PICTURES (including one from 2009 for comparison)
Click on the thumbnail image.
I thought I'd go back and check out the Twin Slide on Santanoni Peak. Mavs and I went up it in 2009, the day it became legal thanks to the Open Space Institute's purchase of a tract of land. To access it you had to bushwhack about a mile from the Bradley Pond Trail and detour around a big swamp that is fed by the slide's drainage.
Then in 2014 the Nature Conservancy turned an abutting and much bigger tract (Macintyre West) over to the the state and this opened a different access to the slide. That's what I decided to check out.
I walked about a mile past the Bradley Pond turnoff on the Santanoni Road and when I reached a certain waypoint I had uploaded in my GPS I began what I hoped to be a much improved whack to the slide. Within 10 minutes I hit a different gravel road, which was going my way, and when it ended I picked up very old logging roads and by keeping track with the GPS I was able to connect a series of these roads and get quite close to the slide drainage.
Once on the creek I rock-hopped upwards until it opened up and became more slide-like. I had to go in and out of and criss-cross the actual drainage several times due to cliff walls. When the rock was wet it was treacherously and stressfully slippery. This was a pervading theme that would get more intense as I went up. I had decided to follow the left fork of the slide (see first pic) but I walked right by the split after looking at it and deciding that it wasn't the correct one. There are a few branches to this slide and many are dead-ends. After 300 feet of climbing the incorrect fork I finally realized the error of my ways and went back down to the fork. Ascending the lower left fork drainage was quite narrow and steep and very slimy. Massive choke stones blocked the way. Things were a bit dicey at a couple of junctures and I made some little moves of faith. I was thinking that descending that section would be very tricky but that I would best save the worry about that for later.
The left fork opened up and lay back somewhat so the going became a lot easier. The sun was blazing hot for October and the fall colors were at peak. Clear skies made for perfect viewing of many high peaks but little Mount Andrew, all red and yellow and right in my face was the dominant feature. The upper section of the slide was mostly sand and gravel and a bit of a slog. Embedded rocks were unstable and I was paranoid that if I disturbed the very big ones they would yield to the pull of gravity and take me down and bury me. This never happened so here I am telling the tale.
Near the top I hit a small cliff wall that I had to detour around through very thick woods. However, I found that by getting just a bit further away from the sun-drenched edge of said woods that seams opened up nicely. I thus made a wide end run and noted that gaining the top of the Santa ridge would be do-able, if very steep. I went back to the slide but now I was at the very steep headwall. I thought maybe I could scramble up along the edge of it. Then I thought about my precarious position all alone and far away and I wisely chickened out. I continued to climb in the steep woods and it was quite exhausting because it was so steep and the ground layer was probably 75% air into which I often sank, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes rather quickly.
I went back to check out a cliff that was above the headwall and got into a very narrow channel of an ancient slide track. The cliff in question was part of the main slide (see first pic again). The soil layer was thin and offered great footing but the balsam and spruce branches were horrendous so I got out of there and found more seams.
Up on the ridge I caught my breath and my chest quit pounding. I felt very alone in this very isolated place up on the narrow tree-choked ridge very far from anywhere. The wind was blowing and it felt cold because I was drenched in sweat. I looked at a bump, 400 yards south of me and decided I was not going there just to turn around and come back. The point on the ridge above the Erminebrook Slide was yet another 400 yards away but it might as well have been 400 miles. It was noon and I was 4h30m out and the intermediate bump looked like it would take an hour to reach in the thick woods. This ridge is best traversed on spring snow-pack, which I did in 2009.
Going down was a smooth ride. I had to go slowly but in no time it seemed I was back out on the sunny slide. Now I sought out the sand I had avoided earlier and that gave me quick and easy descending, although I always felt that taking great care was the way to go. I dislodged a few rocks but nothing too big. The narrow, steep and slimy section turned out not to be as hard as I feared but overall the 2000 feet of descent, carefully avoiding any wet surfaces, took its toll and I was glad to be on level ground. Back on the old roads again I explored a variation which brought me to the Santanoni road a bit closer to the parking lot and in doing so I discovered still more roads.
Doing a traverse that includes both the Erminebrook and Twin slides is a fantastic adventure but I would prefer to do it on deep spring crust. I would ascend the Twin on hard crust and descend the gentler Erminebrook in the afternoon's softer snow, which is the opposite to what I did in '09.
PICTURES (including one from 2009 for comparison)
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