January 17, 2011 - Avalanche Pass

The thermometer in the car registered -21 degrees F when Rich and Rob got out of the car at the ADK Loj for a snowshoe hike up through Avalanche Pass. It was a cloudless, windless day, but at least 15 degrees colder than the forecast. Regardless, we felt like we had the right gear, and it was too perfect a day to pass up a hike. Within the first couple miles, we encountered a group of teens that were trucking out of the woods after spending the night. They seemed to be in good spirits, but they were all mumbling things like "Can't feel my fingers", "Too cold to make breakfast", and "Never doing this again".

We made really good time past Marcy Dam and up though the hills towards the pass, arriving at the northern end of the lake by a little after 10:00 AM. At one point it started to get a little slippery, and Rob said, "This is about where Kate would turn around and go back". Hiking down through the center of Avalanche Lake, when no one else was present in the pass, and the sun was just starting to peek up over the top of Mount Colden, was incredibly impressive.

After taking a few photos, we continued south towards Lake Colden, and cleared a path through the snow out onto the ice to have some lunch in the bright sunlight. The views of Algonquin, Iroquois, and Colden were also spectacular. Unfortunately, our lunch and drinks were frozen solid, but we did our best to break them apart and get some food in our stomachs.

During the hike back through Avalanche Pass, the sun had come around to light up the entire lake, which by now had several groups congregating on the ice. We made decent time hiking back to the Loj, allowing us to cover the approximately 11 miles in about 5:30. The temperature at that point was over 30 degrees warmer than when we started (which would have been great if that didn't mean it was still only 12 degrees).