Ausable Club winter Trail heads

[lessthancam]

I am looking to do Nippletop or another peak from ausable feb 20th, i am wondering how hard that climb will be or if anyone would suggest any other trails out from there that arent overly exerting.

[Kevin]

Afraid that's the easiest/shortest route to Nippletop. Dial, Nippletop, Colvin, and Blake are all moderately tough hikes because you have to hike a ways in just to get to the base of the mountain. Colvin and Blake are slightly easier because they're 1.5 miles closer to Lake Road (in the Ausable club) then Nippletop and Dial. The trail up from Elk Pass to Nippletop's summit is pretty steep (like 2,000' climbed in 1 mile).

The first time I hiked this area we camped along Gill Brook on night 1, hiked all 4 the next day (actually I did 3 but thought I did 4), stayed another night and packed out the next morning. It's a good drive up Friday evening, night hike in to Gill Brook (there's several camp spots), sleep until early Saturday morning and hike the entire day. Come back and eat in the evening and sleep. Wake and pack out Sunday. You can also split the hiking between 2 days (do 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday and hike out Sunday)... but my thinking was once up to the Colvin and Blake turnoff you've made some decent elevation gain, why lose it climbing down only to have to reclimb it again the next day?

I day hiked Dial and Nippletop over Bear Den mountain and out through Elk Pass last Fall. I was getting Dial (missed the prior trip) for my 46 and was hiking with a friend who needed both, so naturally we did both. He's only 20 and works on his feet all day, so I think he was in pretty good shape for the hike (his 4th and 5th peaks). It was still like 13 miles for the loop and 3,000+ feet climbed, so it wasn't easy for either of us. Hiking over Bear Den is just enough extra that I wouldn't recommend this loop unless, like me, you like climbing these from as many different approaches as you can. This approach gives you some nice scenery, especially the portion along the arm of Noonmark where there was a fire many years ago and it's a clear view of the Great Range.