The following morning we waited for my friend Dave to come from Massachusetts. He was supposed to have left at some early hour, to get to Brant Lake in time for us all to go climbing, but time and weather conspired against us and it rained all morning, and Dave only left his house at 9.
Alex and Summer on the summit of Pitchoff.
He finally showed up in the afternoon, and Summer, Dave and I promptly bailed back to the High Peaks to do a hike and salvage a little bit of the day, while Craig went hiking with some kids he was taking care of for the day in the Brant Lake area. We planned to meet up with Craig the next morning at Pok-O-Moonshine.
Cascade Mountain and Cascade Cliff in autumn colors. There are several classic three pitch routes up Cascade Cliff, but we didnt have enough time to climb one of them. In the winter, Cascade Pass is one of the most accessible ice climbing areas in the East.
Dave, Summer and I got to the High Peaks and intended on climbing Mt Jo from Adirondack Loj, but at Cascade Pass the lakes and Pitchoff and Cascade just looked too inviting, so we pulled over and started hiking Pitchoff, which is a 2 mile hike that gains about 1500 ft elevation. As it was late in the afternoon, not many people were still on the trail and we had it all to ourselves. The fall colors were really nice as we climbed through a birch forest and saw some great views of Cascade and the mountains surrounding Lake Placid.
The flanks of Casacade shine yellow with white birches.
After we got back to the car, we headed into Lake Placid for a bite. Here we went to a cheap pizza place and drank cheap beer. It was classic Lake Placid, just as I remembered it. The town hasnt changed much in the 10 years I've been gone. It reminded me alot of the Banff townsite.
Dave Brainard, one of my first climbing partners, on the summit of Pitchoff.
