| Giant of the Winter Trip Report |
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| Giant of the Winter   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: New York, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 44.16100°N / 73.72°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Feb 1, 2006 | Page By: Puma concolor Created/Edited: Feb 2, 2006 / Object ID: 170825 Hits: 622 Loading... Page Score: 86.22% - 1 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
GIANT VIA THE ROARING BROOK TRAIL IN FEBRUARY
Elevation: 4627
Adironcack Order of Height: 12
Partners: solo as usual
Of all the bigger Adirondack 46R peaks, Giant rates as quite possibly the most popular winter ascent. The two obvious reasons for this revolve around its proximity to the Adirondack Northway (barely 10 minutes from the trailhead) and the fact that there is no approach required to the base of the mountain. You simply get on the trail and start hiking up, reaching the top in less than four miles. This is a particularly attractive proposition in the limited daylight hours of winter that make mountains like Gothics, Colden and Haystack logistically difficult.
There are two popular approaches to Giant. The Ridge Trail (AKA Zander Scott Trail) gains about 3000 feet of elevation over 3 miles while the Roaring Brook Trail gains about 3400 feet over 3.6 miles. On this, the first day of February, I chose to hike the Roaring Brook Trail for the somewhat silly reason that I wanted to be able to park my truck well off the highway and this approach offers a full parking lot as opposed to a widened shoulder. A quick check of the DEC trailhead register testified to the popularity of this route as many had ascended Giant the previous weekend. On this cloudy Wednesday, however, I would have the trail and the mountain to myself for the entire day.
As I started my hike, I was somewhat surprised by how little snow and ice was present at the lower elevations. The area had quite obviously not yet recovered from the January thaw that had lasted nearly two full weeks. From 1300 feet to 2000 feet, the ground was mostly bare and muddy in many spots ... quite an anomaly for the Adirondacks at this time of year. I barebooted through here in double boots, which is always somewhat of an awkward propostion but beats carrying the heavy boots in my pack. As I climbed higher, the sections of snow and ice became more consistent and after a small slip, I clipped into my crampons with my altimeter reading 2990. Shortly after this, the trail became very enjoyable in spite of several areas of blowdown that had to be circumvented. The trail was mostly a hard pack of ice with a thin coating of snow, which was absolutely perfect for cramponing.
After reaching the junction with the Ridge Trail after nearly 3 miles of hiking and at an elevation of about 4200, I began to encounter several areas of small snowdrifts (12-18 inches), no doubt a testament to the wind and light snow of the previous day. The trail also leveled off for a short while before the final steep pitch to the summit. I dumped my pack and grabbed my ice axe about 4/10 of a mile from the summit at a 40-50 degree pitch that I remembered from a previous winter ascent. This was my third time atop Giant and on this particular day, the views were pretty much nonexistent. Visibility atop Giant was limited to no more than 100 feet, but I wasn't too bothered. There is no such thing as a bad day in the mountains.
Back to the trailhead by 2 PM.
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Adirondacks > Giant Mountain > Giant of the Winter
