Mt Marcy (Night Attempt) - 2004

9-10 October 2004

Climb Stats

Climb Start: 5:00 PM (9 October)
Highest Point Reached at: 9:45 PM
Climb End: 2:15 AM (10 October)

Starting Elevation: 2000 ft.
Summit Elevation: 5,344 ft.
Highest Elevation Reached: ~5,300 ft.
Horizontal Distance: 14 mi. (roundtrip)
   


Climbers

  • George P.
  • Billy C.
no summits

10 October 2004 - 3:40pm

We left RIT around 9am, after a nice fancy breakfast. We took the New York Thruway to Utica and then went North into Adirondack State Park. We took a road that appeared to be closest to Mt. Marcy, trying to locate the trailhead. There were several trailheads along that road, but unfortunately, they all involved ~15 mile one-way trips to Mt. Marcy, and we weren't equipped for a backpacking trip, just a day hike. So we flagged down a car and got directions to Adirondack Lodge, where the trailhead for the day hike to Marcy is located. We headed out and ended up near Lake Placid, and the US Olympic Training Center around 4:30pm.

We entered the lodge area, only to find all the campsites had been resevred. So, we had several options:

  1. Backpack in a couple miles and camp
  2. Find another campsite to stay for the night
  3. Hike at night
   Due to the fact that we wanted to be back home as early as possible, and that we weren't equipped for a backpacking trip, we opted to hike at night.

Just before 5pm, we got our gear together for the hike. I carried a full backpacking: including, tent, stove, fuel, and a sleeping bag; just in case we decided to bivy on the way up or down.

At 5pm, we threw our packs on and started hiking. We encountered lots of hikers returning to the trailhead as we hiked out. The trees were very beautiful and there were entire hills covered in red, orange, and yellow. After a mile of hiking, we arrived at the dam, which afforded a great view over the lake of the Adirondacks.


A view of a tree near the peak of it's
yearly color-change.
View of the Adirondacks from the dam.

We continued hiking, passing several campsites. Naturally, it started getting dark, so we put on our headlamps and continuted hiking. It was a nice hike up (~3200ft of climbing over 7 miles).


View from a footbridge of a creek we crossed
several times on the hike.
Billy in front of the weather warning sign.
Me in front of the weather warning sign.

At about 9:15pm, we reached a rocky plateau with a stone carin on it. By this time, the top of Mt. Marcy was in the clouds, so it was difficult to see more than 30 or 40 ft. This plateau appeared to be the summit, so we took pictures. However, the clouds broke briefly, and I saw that there was still more climbing to reach the summit.


Billy at the stone carin.
Me at the stone carin.

It was rather windy towards the top so we added layers and began the final part of the climb. It was a rather steep hike, up a broken rock slab. We climbed for another 15 minutes or so before turning back. The wind made things rather cold, and as a result, we turned back just below the summit. It was a little disappointing to not reach the summit, but there will be more opportunities to climb it.

We began our descent at 9:45pm (right after we'd reached our highest point). As we descended, the clouds started clearing. By midnight, many stars were visible. It was a very quiet, still night, with occasional gusts of wind, blowing through the trees. We saw only one animal on the whole hike: a small mouse off to the side of the trail.

The descent was pretty relaxed, and we made good time, reaching the car by 2am. The dark and quiet was a little un-nerving at times, and our feet were getting sore on the hike down. We were also both quite exhausted when we reached the car.