Expedition Consulting

A Change of Plans

I arrived at Adirondack Loj intending to check on conditions and then head to camp at Meadows Lane and tag Iroquois in the morning, but the updated forecast was heavy rain overnight, with lingering drizzle the following day — not really enjoyable hiking conditions. So instead I got changed and was on the trail by 5:15pm. With the number of winter climbs I’ve done, starting and finishing in the dark isn’t unusual, and an overnight ascent more or less guaranteed I’d have both summits to myself.

Boot Problems & Early Trail Conditions

The trail was dry and easy as always, but the combination of brand-new mountaineering boots and the insoles from my hiking boots was starting to bruise my heels as they hit the back of the boot with every step. Thankfully, I’d planned for the possibility and tossed the original insoles into my pack before leaving home. Swapping them out didn’t fix the soreness, but at least things stopped getting worse.

I passed at least a dozen hikers, all of them heading down for the night — including one barefoot, which remains a mystery to me. All the usual sources of water were low to the point of being little more than mud, and only a few minor creeks actually running. I’d anticipated this and carried six liters, and with the temperature falling fast after sunset the demand wasn’t too bad. The slabs on the ascent were completely dry and offered excellent grip.

Wildlife & Transition to the Alpine Zone

Just before the turn toward Algonquin I caught sight of a pine marten or possibly a fisher — the only noteworthy wildlife I’ve seen this season aside from the usual squirrels and chipmunks. With the fading daylight and the familiarity of having climbed this route a dozen times before, I kept the headlamp stowed. The deeper into evening it got, the more immediate the contrast became: warm forest at the bottom, then a quick shift to cooler, sharper air as I ascended.

Once I broke above treeline, the wind picked up and the cloud ceiling dropped. The trail is exceptionally well marked through this entire section, so even in low contrast conditions there was no difficulty following it.

Algonquin Summit – Limited View, Brief Clearing

Behind the summit boulder I layered up, pulled out the headlamp, and took a short break and had a snack. The views so far had been very limited — mostly clouds, low movement, and the kind of shifting gray that erases any sense of distance then for a minute or two the sky opened toward Lake Placid and the Olympic Jumping Complex, and the lights far below created an odd sense of scale. Then the clouds swallowed everything again.

I’d been mildly concerned that finding the route to Iroquois in the dark might be tricky, but this turned out to be completely unfounded. The descent off Algonquin into the col is well-defined, and the headlamp made every cairn and paint mark stand out cleanly.

Traverse to Iroquois

Once below the open rock, the herd path toward Iroquois became even easier to follow: the track cut deep into the soil. Losing the route would here would take some real effort. I took a few of the more technical options on the way up the final pitch as they seemed like the most direct route; though on the way down I realized the route actually ran off to the side and across much easier terrain. Then a short time later I reached the bolted steps that lead up and onto the summit.

The summit itself delivered exactly what the clouds had promised: a wide-open expanse of nothing. No views, no surrounding ridges, just a lot of darkness.

Return Over Algonquin & Down to the Loj

The return to the col and back up to Algonquin was straightforward. Visibility in the alpine zone wasn’t great, but the trail markers are excellent and the footing was still dry. Once back on the main trail, I started the long drop toward the Loj — the usual endless sequence of slabs and then stepping from rock to rock followed and while as always they felt endless at the time, soon enough I was back at the Marcy Dam trail junction.

A Timely Finish

I reached the car at 1h40, sore-heeled but in good shape overall, and took a short nap rather than drive immediately. About twenty minutes later the skies opened — the start of the storm I’d hoped to beat. In hindsight, shifting the hike to the evening was exactly the right decision.