We hit the trailhead at the Adirondack Loj at 8:30am to a nearly empty parking lot. We did our final pack stabilization and strapped on our snowshoes and hit the ground running. Almost literally running, we were setting a rather brisk pace to make up for some lost time under our down comforter. We were at Marcy Dam and had the option of crossing the old pond area but I wanted to check out this exciting new bridge that was constructed just downstream. It was quite impressive, hard to believe it was my first time seeing it.
We continued on toward Tabletop using the usual route the VanHoevenberg Trail. There was a nice change to this portion of trail, a slight re-route to avoid all the rocks. Before we knew it we were at the high-water bridge, which we didn't need to use, we continued up the trail and crossed frozen Phelps Brook with no issues. We passed the Phelps Trail soon after and knew we would be venturing up there on the way back out.
A bit further we crossed Phelps Brook again on a sturdy footbridge, flipped up our heel-lifts on our snowshoes and started the long ascent toward Indian Falls. This portion of trail always frustrates me a bit; it never really heads toward Tabletop Mountain as I feel it could. Then through our tired eyes we saw a trekking pole in the snow, it was missing the bottom section, but other than that an easy fix and in nice shape. We left it there to retrieve on the way back out. In another 5 minutes the other trekking pole, this one complete – we now had a complete set of trekking poles. If anyone reads this and lost a pair either on the way to Marcy or Tabletop, let us know.
Finally we were at the herd-path for Tabletop looking at a broken trail of no more than 12 inches wide. Typical for this time of year, but off the trail there was at least 3-feet. You know, big guys like me do great breaking trail but we do not do good at going under dead-fall of bent over trees full of snow. I can't tell you how many times I got slammed on the top of head by boulder sized loaves of snow. Even with the laughter of Corenne after seeing the site, we pushed on and I was right at her heels. It was very pleasant not to have to worry about the running water on the trail or the heavy erosion of the herd-path. The snow had leveled it right out for us. We finally got to a viewing area, where nothing was to be had; the clouds were still too low. At this point the trail got much narrower in spots. Dense forest, 2+ feet of snow base and heavy snow coverage on the trees lining the trail made for a bottleneck for me to push through. As you might have guessed I'm a bit on the tall side at 6'2'', but my shoulder width is almost the same. Every loose piece of elastic cordage seemed to catch on every tree branch available for mental torture. I couldn't even lasso the branches that these loops seemed to find if I was a professional rodeo cowboy. But there I was a pawn on the end of a large rubber band, several times. We finally summited to a fully socked in view. Oh yes, there's a view from Tabletop, you just need to continue for 200 feet past the summit, it's there and it's AWESOME!!
It took us just under an hour to climb Tabletop from the start of the herd-path; it took us 18 minutes to get back down, very fast winter conditions. We retraced our steps back down to the Phelps Trail. At this point we were a bit on the tired side of life, but we lifted our heel-lifts and started another long ascent. This ascent of Phelps I might add starts out moderate, but very soon started to get much steeper. Again, thankful to a couple feet of snow, we had a nice ramp up and over the eroded surfaces. This section of trail was quite uneventful other than a full on quad muscle failure about a half mile from the summit. We recharged with a couple frozen bananas and some chlorinated pool water from the tap and we were good to go in no time. We summit to find only a couple other guys enjoying the newly found views. The clouds had started to clear and we had a rather nice view of Marcy and the Upper Great Range as well as Colden and The MacIntyre's.
We didn't spend too much time up there, we wanted to be back to the car before the sun went behind the peaks and the temps dropped to below a positive numerical figure. We proceeded on a rather quick pace back to Marcy Dam where we gobbled down a snack and hung out with the chickadees. We had one land on Corenne's head and another land on the rice cake that was in my hand. Yes, I said rice cake; it had peanut butter and Nutella on it, so it was edible.
We crossed the frozen wasteland that was once Marcy Dam and my pace fell to a slow crawl, just at the time the sun went behind the trees. It got very cold, very fast. At this point I had a difficult time keeping warm. Once back at the car the thermostat read 3 degrees at 4:00pm and dropping, it was 1 degree when we got back to the apartment at 4:30pm.
Want to climb
Phelps and Tabletop or other High Peaks this winter but don't know how to go about it, or just want a bit of help, check out a local guide service in Lake Placid like High Peaks Mountain Guides. Need a great place to stay while visiting the area? Lake Placid has some of the best resorts and hotels in the country.Spencer Morrissey is a guide at High Peaks Mountain Guides in Lake Placid and a two time winter Forty-Sixer.
