Nippletop et al

Rochester Winter Mountaineering Society
Colvin, Blake, Nippletop, Dial

Feb 25-27, 2011

Leader: Greg Buzulencia
Climbers: Neal Andrews, Dave Wideman, Gregory Chambers

Short story: An engineer, graduate student, nurse and event planner walk into the mountains. They climb and head out the following the day. My apologies to those anticipating a joke, I couldn’t come up with a witty enough candidate.

Long story: On Friday February 27th, 2011 Dave and I left Rochester after a quick and heavy snowstorm. Most of my coworkers didn’t even make it into work that day, but by the time we left the roads were clear and the skies sunny. We stayed the evening in what is now a posh Maple Leaf Motel after many renovations over the years. I might even recommend taking it off of RWMS’ list, were it not for the discounted rate the proprietor offers us. I’m genuinely concerned that Marriott will want to buy out this property to stake their claim to the jewel of the Adirondacks, Schroon Lake.

Saturday morning Dave and I converged on the other half of our party, Greg and Neal, at the Noonmark Diner. At 6:30 in the morning Neal is reminiscent of Hans Solo in the Star Wars cantina scene where he slyly informs Luke Skywalker he can take him to the places he’d like to go (and perhaps some places he’d prefer to miss). Greg C. was eager to continue a week long sabbatical from graduate work to climb mountains with Neal. Dave and I just wanted to consume calories for the trek that promised not to lack in vertical movement. Hitting the trail around 8AM, we made it up to the campsite on the Gill Brook Trail after Dave led a blistering pace up the Ausable Rd. Lucky for our group we had a handful of enthusiastic trailbreakers ahead of us, stomping down the 15” of snow that fell Friday. We arrived at Colvin’s summit exhausted, but happy. Greg and Neal felt fresh and continued on to Blake, while Dave and I headed back for a little R&R at the campsite.

Sunday morning we awoke to 4 more inches of snow and typical winter temperatures in the 10 degree range. Dave decided he wanted some time alone with our campsite (we suspect he made friends with the local gaggle of pine martens that encircled our campsite). Greg C., Neal and I slowly but surely slogged our way up Nippletop via Elk Pass, kicking away at 20” of untracked snow. Neal enjoyed the trail breaking so much he insisted on leading us all the way up Nippletop. Once atop the peak the decision was made to float downhill along the ridgeline to Dial. This ridge was an enjoyable hike with snow drifting 3’ feet plus in spots, making a soft cushion for our moderate descent. Once atop Dial we decided to navigate our way to the campsite via bushwhacking. We gleefully greeted a couple grumpy French Canadians on our descent toward Bear’s Den before darting off into the woods. Our trajectory took us within 100 yards of the campsite and we soon rejoined our foursome to head back to for the weekend. We arrived back at the car in time to eat a relaxed dinner before parting ways.