Mt. Marcy

Open Winter Window on Marcy

2 young very fit guys and I (47 very fit guy) embarked on a winter hike up Mt. Marcy from the Adirondack Loj Feb 9th 2015.  We had watched videos and read many trip reports on how tough this hike would be in the winter.  We were reasonably prepared with gear and extremely prepared physically.  We brought the race type snow shoes despite many expert hiker's recommending bigger shoes.  Plenty of clothing, including baclava, googles and hand warmers which ended up keeping our hands warm during the entire trip.  We left at 6:45 am in the dark with no hikers ahead of us to break the trail, we decided on wearing micro spikes until the snow was deep enough for snow shoes.  Temp was 20 degrees with no wind, that is, no wind at the start.  We moved at a very fast pace, stopping only for a few minutes at Marcy dam to take in an awesome view of the surrounding mountains.  Our pace intensified as we climbed to about the 5 mile point when the snow deepened to above our knees.  We put our snow shoes on which made a dramatic difference, trading off the front position to share the more arduous lead position.  Just under the summit we put on our googles and shells.  The difference in climate from the tree line to the summit was remarkable.  Winds were easily 30 miles an hour and the trail markers were not real visible.  The terrain went from bare ice on rock to snow 7 feet snow drifts.  We made it to the top and spent only minutes taking pics before starting our descent.  The return trip was quite fast as we ran the downhills and moved very rapidly on the flats.  One of my traveling partners had some issues with cramping and a crabby old lady lectured us on not wearing our snow shoes (which i understand now and will remember in the future so no lectures please!).  Round trip was 5 hours and 20 minutes.  Great half day hike!