Author and
Slide Show: Francesco Grilli
Participants: 8
members of the Canadian Alpine Club and Francesco
Elevation Gain: 3,700' (1,200' on rock slabs).
Length: 6.7 miles round
trip
Time
(indicative): 2 hours to the base of the slabs, 3 hours of climbing, 2 hours for the
descent on trail
Difficulty:
Advanced / Strenuous
We
had an adventurous introduction to the
Adirondack Mountains by climbing the smooth slabs of the Eagle
Slide on Giant Mountain. I recommend this class 4 climb, if you are
visiting the area.
We
left Montreal early in the morning, crossed the U.S. border and
reached the trailhead (situated 3.3 miles south of Keene Valley) at
10 am. The first part of the hike follows the well marked trail for
Giant Mountain. We crossed the Roaring Brook and reached a big cairn
indicating (on the left of the main trail) the track leading to the
base of the slide. This part is not an official trail and it has
some steep sections on unstable earth, but it can be followed quite
easily, until it reaches a creek (that may be dry, depending on the
season). It is important to go down the creek for 100-150 feet,
until reaching another creek, which is the right one to climb. The
description we had was rather vague and we erroneously climbed up
the first creek. This resulted in a lot of useless (although nice)
rock climbing, wild bushwalking, and a waste of four hours. By 4
p.m. we were back at the junction of the two creeks, with the fun
part of the day still to come! We were determined to reach the
summit, so we started climbing up the right creek.
After some scrambling on and around the big boulders in the bed of
the stream, the landscape opens, showing the long series of wide,
smooth, inclined slabs leading to the top. The first and the last
slabs are probably the most difficult. On the first one there is
virtually no exposure, but things change drastically on the last
one, with about 1,000' of inclined rock below, interrupted in places
by ledges with little vegetation. The intermediate ones are probably
a little easier. There is no marked route and part of the fun is to
find the best one. Climbing shoes can help for the friction on the
rock, and a rope can be useful (anchors on small trees). I climbed
all the way up with just my hiking boots, and so did almost all the
members of our party. Obviously, the slabs are to be avoided with
wet weather.
We
reached the summit at 7 p.m., with a beautiful sunset as reward.
Luckily we had headlamps, which turned out to be very useful for the
return in the darkness along the normal route (the trail partially
followed in the morning). We got back to the cars at 9.50 p.m. and,
after a light dinner, to Montreal at 1.30 a.m.
