Santanoni Hell!

[shoty2982]

It was our first time in the santanoni range this past weekend and i must say that it was interesting at the very least. This trip was of many firsts for us and we did learn quite a bit. Driving in from Buffalo we left at approx 7:30pm on Thursday night. We made fairly good time and we were all suited up and on the trail by 2:00am. It was our very first night hike and to hike up to the bradley pond lean-to with only my Black Diamond headlamp. I closely followed my friend Eric as he had a Tikka and the light given off by it was quite impressive. Considering we had never been in this region and it was night time we over shot the bradley lean to by about a mile then had to backtrack to try and find it. We FINALLY arrived at the lean-to at about 6:15 and rested our weary heads and wet feet until about 10:30 when we decided to finally start up to times square and pound out those 3 b*stards. After about hiking for 15 mins in Eric(bonehead) forgot to cover his pack which he left at the start of the herdpath. After what seemed like an eternity we finally reached times squareand quickly headed up to Couchie. we made it round trip in 2 hours and 15 minutes and i noticed that Eric was definately getting wiped out. He had a quick bite to eat and we headed off to Santanoni, very beautiful and easy trail to hike and while i was sitting on the peak i hear Eric on one of false summits below me, say that he was not going to go any further!! Moments later he was walking up to the true summit and we shared a quick laugh and I reassured him things were going to be turn out ok. back to times square and up panther in no time flat, i think i timed it and it took us 11 minutes to get up it. After a quick high five and some pictures we headed back down the panter brook trail and all the way back to the start of the herd path. shortyly after hiking out (30 mins) it was time for our headlamps yet again. we finally got to the car at approx 10:30 and headed off to Lake Placid for some pizza. That night after eating we decided to park at the Cascade and Porter parking lot and sleep in the car so we could bag 2 more peaks which we never had a chance to get before.

Saturday:
We woke up around 10:30(again), too late to start for me. But we knew we had a fairly easy day ahead of us. We quickly made our way up to porter and it took us about an hour and 20 minutes to get up it. Speed is all subjective but i believe we passed every tourist and youth group that was hiking. I thought the view on Porter was actually very underrated from what i had heard and we enjoyed a semi crowded rest. We quickly made our way back down and then up Cascade. I would have never though i would have that nice of a view from a peak that took so little effort. To the east you could see Camels Hump, and Mt Mansfield in Vermont. Absolutely perfect weather. We then descended back to the car and decided that we were going to leave a day early and not attempt the Dix range on sunday(which would have been absolutely brutal). Overall very nice trip. We finished the Santas and had a picture perfect day atop Cascade and Porter.

2 days hiking approx 27 miles(?) 5 new peaks, 12 hours of sleep, some good pizza and calzones, wet boots, filthy clothing, and only one blister, and some very sore knees.....not too shabby

p@uL :headbang:

[Gandalf]

At least you FOUND Santanoni the first time, which I failed to do. The Dix Range after that would've been rough, unless you are part (heck, all) machine.

Nice report!

[eghaley]

We did a bushwhack up Couchy from the Cold River. Lots of moss covered holes and boulders. One of the slowest hikes (in terms of miles/hr) I've ever done and thoroughly exhausting. Would do it over in a heartbeat!

[shoty2982]

now about a week after that trip i am starting to appreciate the Santas, their remoteness and serenity. i actually did enjoy myself and i guess the only reason i was so bent out of shape was because i messed up my knee so bad. it was all good and i will probably end up taking my girl and my bro sometime in the future, dry future that is. it was def not a trip i will forget.

[buffalogal]

I did the Santas in August, and I share your fondness for the range. It was a beautiful clear day, during a fairly dry spell, so the mud was minimal. Even the Couchie swamp was, dare I say it, a piece of cake. I thought the best views were from the second false peak of Santanoni. And I was glad we saved Panther for last. After all that over-and-back hiking, it was a pleasure to run straight up Panther in a matter of minutes. I only wish we had more time to lounge on the summits. We left the trailhead at 7am, and hiked out in the dark shortly before 9pm. Since your hiking on the marked trail was all in darkness, you probably missed a gorgeous look-out on Santanoni Brook. As you hike along the trail (from the trailhead) with the brook to your left, you come to a point where the brook is finally close enough to see, and there is an area of big flat rocks for sunning, a swimming hole, a waterfall and great views. We reached that spot as the morning sun was getting warm, and we wished we could have stayed there all day. You should check it out the next time you venture back.

[Kevin]

We did a bushwhack up Couchy from the Cold River. Lots of moss covered holes and boulders. One of the slowest hikes (in terms of miles/hr) I've ever done and thoroughly exhausting. Would do it over in a heartbeat!

Myself and fvrwld went down that route, and while it was a fun and challenging experiencing - cold day in hell I'd do it again for 'fun'. By time we made it back to Duck Hole (where we were camped) we wanted to collapse from hunger and sheer exhaustion. You're 100% correct about the degree of difficulty, and I did everything I could to keep us in the more open forest above any water. It got real thick near any water sources. Took us like 4 hours to do 2-3 miles on a descent.

All that amounts to a respect for the mountains, even 'lowly' Couchsachraga, who handed me my arse that day. Santanoni and panther offer some excellent views, and I'm looking forward to someday doing the winter hike through Bradley Pond (above the frozen muck).

[shoty2982]

I definately agree with you 100% kevin. they did hand me my arse as well. It just sucked that we hiked in at night and missed the lean-to, and then had to hike out at night. i do beleive though that i will be making a winter trip to that range as well.....i may actually enjoy it with a little less mud, slop, muck and water in general.

[Skyclimber]

i do beleive though that i will be making a winter trip to that range as well.....i may actually enjoy it with a little less mud, slop, muck and water in general.

Winter is actually the best season to climb the Santanoni's. As your walking over all the mucky parts, that have frozen over. Also making it an easier access to getting across Couchsachraga Swamp. If conditions are perfect, these peaks can all be done, in a day, in about the same time it takes in Summer. Unfortunately though, sometimes this Range needs to be broken up, into two segmented days to do.

[runswithscissors]

Santanoni Shutout! (Winter 2005)

shoty2892, Gandalf, eghaley, buffalogal, Kevin and Skyclimber2971W;

Sorry for the long-overdue delayed response to this thread, but I was just reading through some of the trip reports (slow night on the Ponderosa) and came across shoty2892's TR on (yet) another interesting and challenging Santanoni experience.

The Santanoni Range is one of my favorite, backcountry places (not unlike the Sewards) - seemingly untouched and unspoiled by civilization (if you discount the people-swallowing mud holes). There is such an overwhelming feeling of remoteness to the wilderness - so good for the soul. Even when you are with a group, there is a feeling of being totally alone.

Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the TR and comments by others. Perhaps you might enjoy reading one more tale from the Santanoni Range with a winter trip that ended up reminding me that one should never take these wild places for granted.

I never made it to the Noon Mark Diner for their delicious pie after this trip. It wasn't because of the driving distance from the Upper Works to Keene Valley. It was simply because I was already stuffed with a healthy serving of humble pie from the rugged Santanoni Mountains.

Santanoni Shutout
February 25, 2005

After a determined (11hours and 28 minutes), but devastatingly disappointing attempt at Santanoni and Panther Mountains, I have a few postscripts about the conditions on the wild and remote Santanoni Ridge. The outcome remains the same…Santanoni and Panther 2, us 0. I will try to keep this brief, but our day was anything but brief.

The trailhead parking was thankfully plowed so we did not have to park on the road. The main trail to Bradley Pond was in excellent condition - tracked, packed and unmistakable. It is still a “haul” to Bradley Pond (4.3 miles and 1200 feet of vertical ascent). The best part of that stretch is the comparative “ease” of the return. The pure white snow was beautiful and the surrounding wilderness along Santanoni Brook was figuratively and literally breathtaking. The herd path to the Santanoni Ridge was also a challenge ascending 1500 feet in slightly over a mile, but it was tracked well in spite of a few zigs, zags and very steep sections that could have been less severe.

We followed the most prominent tracked path to Panther Brook without any problems. From the junction with Panther Brook, we continued to ascend on an excellent track. There were several paths that had been broken to the left or south from the main herd path, but we decided to stay with the most definite one that continued the most direct ascent. However, the one we were on seemed to drift north too much and it was extremely steep in the upper reaches before the ridge. We almost felt as if we were nearing the summit of Panther instead of the ridge. As we topped out on the Santanoni ridge, the main path we had been following "dead-ended" and restarted in several directions which we explored only to discover successive dead-ends. By chance, we discovered one path that ended up at the large ridge boulder where you can easily see Santanoni, Panther and Couchsachraga. We spent nearly an hour searching for Times Square or any established herd path to Panther. We were not successful. The ridge had about 3 feet of fresh powder over a base of 3 to 4 feet. I briefly started to bushwhack on a sight bearing directly to Panther, but soon found myself in hip-deep powder wondering which spruce trap had my name on it. We were past our designated turn-around time and very disappointingly started to descend via the main herd path that we ascended.

I am now pouring over my notes and maps trying to figure out where we went wrong. I believe the herd path to Santanoni was visible (south of the ridge boulder), but the lateness of the day precluded us from taking that chance. However, to have Panther within sight (.5 mile and 200 feet of ascent) after almost 2800 feet of vertical and over 5 miles of snowshoe hiking was a tough pill to swallow. 1 for 2 would have been at least a psychological victory. More planned time might have allowed us an increased time margin to try for Santanoni, but I am still puzzled over the disappearance of any track in the direction of Panther after such a highly defined route to the ridge. The great mystery is that I don't know what I missed…. and maybe I never will. I have this nagging feeling that I should have explored the Santanoni path for it might have connected with Times Square and the routes to Panther and Couchsachraga.

“Failing forward” is not a complete loss because today we did our best, accomplished a lot, were not afraid to fail and made positive progress toward our next try.

[runswithscissors]

Santanoni Shutout! (Winter 2005)

Sorry for the double whammy! One read of this may be too much!

Pete Hogan

[Neil]

Read this and weep.

In March of 2004 me and Dominic, who had NO ADK winter hiking experience whatsoever headed up the trail at 8PM on a Sat. night. towards Bradley Pond LT with rented snowshoes on our feet and headlamps aglow on our foreheads. The LT was full so we slept on the ground under the overhang and got going the next morning. I had read the maps and everything but knew doodley squat about the area at the time. On Sunday there was a bomb-proof trail (end of winter season and 20 odd people hiked the range the day before) and we simply followed it up to Times Square, Panther and Couch and stopped at the LT on our way out to grab our overnight gear and head back to the car. We knew nothing about the 46-W at that time but unbeknownst to us had scored Winter High Peaks 1 & 2.

We returned at the end of April arriving at the LT at 3AM (dumb) and hiked Sanatanoni the next day.

Pictures are here
and here

[Boreal Chickadee]

(Special note to Mom: click on photos for full size images)



For a minute there, I thought those directions were for me!

[Neil]

(Special note to Mom: click on photos for full size images)



For a minute there, I thought those directions were for me!

I put that on there to tease her after she complained that my pictures were "rather small". Then I found out that other people weren't clicking on the thumbnails.

[Boreal Chickadee]

SOME of us used slide rules, walked seven miles to school in the snow going uphill both ways and finally got cable TV in 2004. We're techno challenged.

[eghaley]

On Sunday there was a bomb-proof trail (end of winter season and 20 odd people hiked the range the day before) and we simply followed it up to Times Square, Panther and Couch and stopped at the LT on our way out to grab our overnight gear and head back to the car.

Sounds like Neil had a romp in the park up the Santas and back. If my memory serves me correctly our first attempt up Santanoni was the only time we had ever been skunked in meeting completing a climb. It was in January and after a overnight near the base we snowshoed up in heavy snow and reached Times Square too late to continue climbing, so we camped in the woods. Next morning, after a night of freezing rain, the whole face of the rock was covered in a thick layer of ice that was like black ice. I felt that to continue the climb was too dangerous for our group. It stopped us cold from climbing any further even with crampons.

So we headed back down and drove home as if it were another day. We knew we'd be back.