Wallface Mountain

[tmount]

Hiked Wallface Mt. yesterday. We hike to Scott Pond, bushwhacked downstream 1/4 mile, then headed up to Wallace Mt., a very tough bushwhack. There’s a great 360 view at the top but not as good as I expected. Perhaps we should have gone a little more east and made our way over to the top of the cliffs but we had enough of whacking through very dense growth.
I was very surprised to see a large area (an acre or two or three?) around the top cut down, probably with chain saw. Clearly, they did it for the view but when? The cuts didn’t look old enough to precede the APA but they weren’t recent, either. And why? It was a lot of work, not to mention totally illegal.

[Woodly]

I wonder if that clearcut wasn't for a helicopter rescue???
But someone here will know.

[bluequill]

I'm pretty sure the trees were cut a couple of years ago for a heli landing in a SAR turned recovery effort.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by bluequill

I'm pretty sure the trees were cut a couple of years ago for a heli landing in a SAR turned recovery effort.

This is correct.

https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/s...-dies-wallface

[Wldrns]

Yup, I was there. Rangers found the guy way down on the back side in the woods, along the search track I was on before my team got to the location. Crazy unprepared dude.

[tmount]

Wow! Seems crazy cutting several acres on a mountain summit, searching for a body.

[Wldrns]

Of course at first no one knew exactly what was his exact location or condition. Initial search was down the face from the summit into a boulder field. Trained SAR climbers were brought in by chopper with all necessary climbing and safety gear and provisions to last for several days.

[DSettahr]

That search also went on for several weeks, as I recall. A small tent city was constructed on the mountain to house the rangers and volunteers that were involved in the search.

[Wldrns]

https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/s...-dies-wallface

The morning I arrived there were two choppers scheduled to be on scene and I was to be flown in for the search. However, another priority call came in at another part of the state so we lost one flight. I ended up on a 10 mile bus ride instead
About an hour after I started the ground search with my crew, a ranger found him about a half mile in front of us along what would have been our eventual track.

[SpencerVT]

I remember when this happened.
When I climbed Wallface before this, there definitely wasn't a view at the top it was all thickly forested. They cut a big area at the top as part of that search.
You can (very carefully) bushwhack toward near the edge of the cliffs and get a great peak-out view toward Indian Pass.

[Neil]

On a winter whack of Wallface from the McNaughton side in 2018 we came across loads of flagging that had us scratching our heads. Then we discovered, much to our stupefaction, that the summit area had been clear-cut. Then we remembered the SAR where R, sadly, had stood for recovery.

[Wldrns]

unfortunately a lot of colored flagging usually gets left behind after a wildlands search incident. A line of flags is sometimes left by rangers delineating the geographical boundaries of reasonably sized grid search blocks to be walked by teams latter in the day, if natural topographic boundaries are not suitable to be used. Then the team crew boss will hang a long labeled flag at the beginning and end of each sweep, as the grid is completely covered on foot. The spacing of flags is dependent on the width of the sweep, which is determined by how many people are in the crew, as the individuals are spaced relatively close enough together to see all possible ground clues. The edge boundary of each sweep is determined by a thin cotton string played out by the last person in line. Dozens of miles of cotton string later quickly disintegrates or is taken down by deer, mainly.

[2505]

Originally Posted by Neil

On a winter whack of Wallface from the McNaughton side in 2018 we came across loads of flagging that had us scratching our heads. Then we discovered, much to our stupefaction, that the summit area had been clear-cut. Then we remembered the SAR where R, sadly, had stood for recovery.

Help me with the background on that last pic. Can't figure out what peak that is behind the Wallface summit...

[DSettahr]

Biodegradable flagging is a thing but honestly, it sucks. One rainstorm and it disintegrates. There's a ways to go before biodegradable flagging is at all useful as an alternative to plastic flagging for anything that needs to stay marked for more than maybe a week at most.

I use a lot of flagging for my winter job and it pains me to go through so much of it (despite my best attempts to use it as sparingly as possible) but there's really no other viable alternative.

[DuctTape]

Originally Posted by DSettahr

Biodegradable flagging is a thing but honestly, it sucks. One rainstorm and it disintegrates. There's a ways to go before biodegradable flagging is at all useful as an alternative to plastic flagging for anything that needs to stay marked for more than maybe a week at most.

I use a lot of flagging for my winter job and it pains me to go through so much of it (despite my best attempts to use it as sparingly as possible) but there's really no other viable alternative.

I would think cotton fabric would last long enough. no?

[Wldrns]

Originally Posted by DuctTape

I would think cotton fabric would last long enough. no?

Longevity is not the real problem. I think strips of cotton fabric would present a problem with writing upon it and readabliity, especially if it is in the rain. There is a lot of information that has to go on those flags. A sharpie works best on plastic flagging. I don't know how you might write on cotton and have it not bleed.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by 2505

Help me with the background on that last pic. Can't figure out what peak that is behind the Wallface summit...

Do you mean the big peak in background?

[St.Regis]

There are grades of surveyors' ribbon (aka Texas flagging), from light photo-degradable to the heavy duty arctic weight stuff. From my experience, the standard flagging is fairly durable, but if it's exposed to sun and wind it becomes brittle, faded and generally gets obliterated (except for the knot). However, in shaded, protected areas, it can remain for a long time

[Hear the Footsteps]

Originally Posted by Neil

Do you mean the big peak in background?

Seward is my choice

[TCD]

How about Panther?