Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

So after not making it to the top of North Dome last week, I had an itch to scratch this weekend. I got up super early and got to the parking area by 9. I started on the Devil's Path over on Spruceton Rd. I took that up to the col between St. Anne's Peak and North Dome. It was only 4.4 miles, but it was only 23 degrees out at the parking area, probably lower on the summit.

I Guess that it's still winter in the catskills. This is going to make next weeks backpacking trip fun!



The trail starts out crossing this ridge which is full of Hemlocks. Was a lot of fun to start out with this. Also the rock boulders and the ice made it a quick first mile.



The trail was several inches thick of ice. The day where it warmed up caused a sudden melt, and then this refroze causing there to be cascading ice all along the trail.


View of North Dome from the Devil's Path


I didn't take many pictures until I started climbing up North Dome and was crossing another field of ice, I turned around and took this shot.


Some shots while scaling the cliffs





Some tracks


I wore crampons most of the way up. I was following the tracks of some other people. I saw them coming back down while I was climbing up one of the last sets of cliffs.


A view of Westkill over St. Annes peak. From this point I changed to the snowshoes after the last set of cliffs. From here it was still a steady climb for 1/4 mile until I got to the pines, then hiked through them for 1/3 of a mile.




Taylor Ham & Cheese for the summit.
Remember the canister is quite low this is because there is over 2 feet of snow here.


The summit of this mountain has a wonderful conifer forest.


I didn't take many shots on the way down. It was steep and I slid a lot. Here's a picture once I got back to the stream


The large rocks along the Hemlock ridge

North Dome is a tough mtn to climb from the east. Cramp-ons was a good choice. Sometimes a rope is needed on ND. If you hike it from the old Mink Hollow Road, it is a very easy climb from the pass between ND and Sherrill. I love the conifer forest on top.

Congrats on a tough hike.

Congrats on getting another peak done. How were the ledges from this approach? Graham is all you have left?

If you ever go for your winter badge you have a couple of the harder ones done. I hiked Vly and Bear Pen today (11 and 12 winter peaks). We heard snowmobiles the whole day, but never saw them.

Yes only Grahm left. My wheels are turning on how I can get up there. I had planned on doing it in April. Now I don't want to wait that long. And I'm on spring break so I'm free the whole week...Only thing is the snow conditions will make that a long hike..

IIRC I don't think I can double count any peaks. Like even though I climbed these in the winter, they count for my 3500 and if I want to do winter 3500 I have to climb them again. I'm not entirely sure how it works, however I have not considered if I'm going to go for the winter patch yet.

The weather isn't looking too good for this week in the Catskills right now.

I've been told you can count any high peaks climbed in the winter for the regular badge also count for the winter badge.

Hmm. Well if that is the case I've got a couple I can put towards it.