A Pre-Formal Adventure

On 11/16/19, the morning of Rensselaer Outing Club Formal, Paul Mayol and I woke up at 1AM to drive to the Adirondacks. We arrived around 3AM to begin our hike of Sawteeth. We were aiming for sunrise, so we would have plenty of time to get back and prepare for formal.

Our plans started out ambitious. We might even add Pyramid and Gothics. If time allowed, we would go all the way to Armstrong. We cruised down Lake Road in our hiking boots, some of our miles just over a 16 minute pace. However, when we got past the dam, it was time to put on our snowshoes for the first time this season. The first real powder of the season was unbroken. Due to the lack of snow base, the going was slow. We were breaking trail but the rocks and roots were just hidden, not buried. The recent Halloween storm caused some blowdown that we had to pick our way around and at times, concealed the trail. We caught a beautiful pink sunrise on the ridge just below the summit.

This was actually Paul and I's second attempt of Sawteeth together. The first time, last winter, we got nearly to the summit via the Scenic Route. However, an impassable ladder encased in ice stopped us. Paul also broke a snowshoe, so his movements were exhausting as he was forced to posthole with every step. We hit cliffs in every other path we tried. Paul had returned to Sawteeth over the summer via the Weld Trail but he was kind enough to rehike it with me in winter conditions, so I broke the trail the whole way.

It was a bluebird, but very cold morning. We only stopped to eat a quick lunch on the summit and then continued down.

We saw Sawteeth's shadow on the Great Range on our way back down the peak.

The return hike was fairly uneventful, save for me tripping on my own clunky MSR snowshoes. I had rented them from Outing Club because I forgot my own Atlas ones at home. We only had time for Sawteeth but I got another high peak in the bag and we would be on time for Outing Club's formal. Woo!!!