Whiteface Mountain
Date of hike: 11/1/2003
Vertical Ascent: 3363’
Length of Hike (miles): 12.0
Total Time: 8:30
Hiked with: Jeff, Don, Joe, John H, and Dave G
Jeff invited me on this hike with a bunch of his friends, and I thought it sounded like a great experience. We met up in Lake Placid the previous night, and I met the others (I already knew Don), and we stayed at the High Peaks Hostel. This was my first experience in a hostel, and our group shared a bunk room. We decided to take the approach from the south, toward Whiteface Landing, so Jeff could join us for the first stretch. He’d hurt a calf muscle and wasn’t going to be able to do the steeper sections.
We left in the morning, and parked the car by Connery Pond, starting out from the trailhead at about 8:30 a.m. The weather was in the low 50s, and very damp and cloudy. From here, we hiked north to Whiteface Landing and took a break on the shores of Lake Placid. Then, we headed east and stopped at the lean-to 3.6 miles in, after fording many streams (made easier with hiking poles I borrowed from John). We made good time to this spot with generally flat terrain. At the lean-to, Jeff wished us luck and turned around to head back. I was beginning to think that I may not fit into this group, since all the others were primed athletes, talking about their rowing adventures, long distance bike races, mountain hiking, and Ironman competitions. Uh oh…
Whiteface Landing on the shores of Lake Placid
Taking a break at a lean-to
We started up the slope, and at some point, around 5 miles in, we split into two groups. John, Joe, & Dave were eager to hike up the slide. As a newbie to this, just hearing the word “slide” intimidated me with visions of a vertical scramble. Luckily, Don felt some compassion and babysat for me, agreeing to go with me up the main trail to the northeast, while the others took a branch to the north to hike up the slide.
Dave G heading up the trail
The trail was very rocky, wet, and slippery. Somewhere around 5.5 miles in, as we started climbing steep bare rocks, the wind blew very hard. It became foggier and very wet in the air. I can clearly recall one point where Don was out of sight about 100 feet ahead of me, while I was clinging to a rock, with a fierce, cold wind whipping my face, unable to see anything in the fog, and thinking, “I am so out of my league doing this! Why am I here? This is crazy!” Getting closer to the summit, we were clearly above tree line. Everything was just bare rock. After ascending a bit more, the going did get easier, and the wind stopped.
Rocks and fog – the theme of the hike
Like I said…
Finally, we hit the summit at Whiteface Castle, where the other three were there waiting for us. This is the only one of the High Peaks that you can drive up (not to mention it’s a well-known ski resort!), and it has a beautiful stone castle at the top for visitors. I’d never driven up here and was eager to see the castle. Ha! The fog was so thick, I couldn’t see a thing—only whiteness. At times, I only saw the stones of the castle wall at my back, and could not see more than a handful of feet in front of me until the clouds shifted slightly. The road was closed for the season, and we had the summit to ourselves today. We all huddled against the stone wall and ate the lunches we’d packed. At one point, before descending, the clouds parted just enough to give us a fuzzy view of Lake Placid below.
A piece of Whiteface Castle and nothing else but white/gray sky
A quick view of Lake Placid, as the clouds parted for a very short time
We all descended together, via the route Don and I had come up, and we got back to the cars at dusk (5:00 p.m.). Jeff met us there with a cooler filled with congratulatory beers. We relaxed and headed back.