Phelps

Two weekends ago, I decided it was time to give Phelps Mountain in the Adirondack High Peaks another go. I last attempted this climb last May and failed to reach the summit... instead we tromped onwards to Mt. Marcy the highest peak in New York state (this is commonly known as the jump-forward plan, not the fall-back plan).

This time we wouldn't be thwarted by the draw of additional miles and big views and decided to stick with Phelps. A crew of six including myself, Thomas, Jeff, Andrew, Sarah, and Another Sarah headed out early. Andrew Calcutt took all the pictures:



Pretty soon we got to Marcy Dam. Those slides look deliciously ski-able with more snow but I know my avalanche knowledge isn't good enough to mess-around... but still....

Much of the path is the same as the way to Marcy, so it was all farmiliar and pretty fun. Eventually, we ran into some pretty steep ice and stopped to put crampons on. I love getting to use crampons because it makes everything feel adventurey. Eventually we reached the summit which was kind of clouded in, but still good.



Here we're showing off our crampon steeze while trying not to fall off the cliff.

We huddled off in the woods a bit to avoid the wind and ate some lunch before an uneventful and chill hike out. Jeff and I brought along surprise thermoses of hot chocolate. Much to my dismay, my hot chocolate was more resemblant of barely luke-warm chocolaty water. Still better than water? Probably.

It was a good day in the mountains! Now let's have some snow.... commmmon weather!