New to the forum - sayin' hi...

[bigsilk]

Hi, all. Me and a couple of buddies got back yesterday from a GREAT three-day at Giant Ledge/Panther.

The weather was incredible - endless blue sky, light breeze, in the fifties... perfect. The ground, though, was saturated. Some of the trail required microspikes, especially the last half up Panther, but nothing treacherous.

Hiking out was a trip. Heavy fog gave it a mysterious quality.

This was my first trip to the Cats, (lived in Texas for the last twenty years,) and a friend told me about the 3500 club. Sounded like fun to me!

I feel a little guilty, though, about making the Panther "winter" hike, but it was before the 21st! At least there was some ice on the trail...

I hope to cross (or share) paths with you on the trail.

Anyway, hi.

[mike]

Welcome to the forum! Hope to see more trail reports in the future. Giant Ledge and Panther is a favorite hike by many. If you were around two years ago we had 7-8' of snow on the peaks this time of year. There were some pretty horrific conditions in 2010. Glad that you enjoyed your first hike in the Catskills. You can also check out the Best 25 hikes in the Catskills on this site.

[bigsilk]

Went to check the site you posted. Panther Mt link gave me a 404. Who should I talk to about that?

Otherwise, great info with the pics and all. Thanks.

[Jon]

looks like the link on that page is bringing you to
.../SMW-gaint.html which doesn't exist, instead of to
.../SMW-giant.html. Just a typo.

That's why you're getting the 404

[mike]

Where are you getting the 404 error? I tried the link above and it worked.

[Jon]

Where are you getting the 404 error? I tried the link above and it worked.

Your link is fine, he's talking about the giant ledge /panther mtn link on that page

Here is the correct link to just the panther mountain portion :

http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/SMW-giant.html

[admin]

I just fixed the link on the page. You may need to reload the page to get the updated page to work correctly. If you have any more problems, just let me know.

[bigsilk]

Sorry, I should have been clear about the 404. My bad.

Thanks for the repair. All is right with the world.

Funny, the page describing the hike rates it as difficult. I've seen others say it's moderate. But when I asked my hiking buddies (haggard old bones that have done the 35) they call it easy.

At the end of the day, I was beat. I'm 45, reasonably good shape. And we did it from GL to Panther after an overnight.

I know there are more difficult hikes in the 35, but that was a good one to get started. Again, I feel a little bad about being able to scratch a winter peak off the list for the sake of such beautiful weather. Actually, it was probably optimum weather - not too cool, not too warm, bright skies...

I have a feeling that my hiking buds aren't going to let me off that easy for the next winter peak. They'll probably pick a hike (Slide? ) with winter storm warnings in the area. I don't blame them.

Well, if you see an age-old black and purple Jansport big pack, or a considerably newer, gray Lafuma weekender pack, say hi. Or flip me off. I'll know what it means.

[dave]

Funny, the page describing the hike rates it as difficult. I've seen others say it's moderate. But when I asked my hiking buddies (haggard old bones that have done the 35) they call it easy.

Actually, the hike is rated as Moderate. Again, we had something wrong with this page. If you click on any of the symbols, you will get the symbol and rating descriptions. You can see that page here.

Giant & Panther is a very nice hike. We might see some of us around too. We are out every weekend. There are times you can join us on a hike too.

[Jon]

. They'll probably pick a hike (Slide? )

Despite Slide being the tallest, I'd say it's probably one of the easiest 3500 I've been up. Snowshoeing in winter might be a different story, but that will make any mountain more difficult. The grade isn't steep, and it's mostly just a few large switchbacks, without any rock scramble or exposure (clinging to cliffs).

My friend and I joke sometimes that the western trail up Slide is "wheelchair handicap accessible" compared with the eastern face that is basically a vertical drop.

I can empathize with you though, I just did my 4 winter peaks this winter, and didn't have to snowshoe to a single one. There wasn't more than a few inches of ice and snow on any of them back in December/January. I brought my snowshoes up most, but never had to actually strap them on for anything. I feel like I kind of cheated since it was like a year without a winter.