LOCALadk Magazine

54 Winter 2018 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk friends or family members, but nothing beats the experience of learning and practicing these skills guided by professional instructors. Climbing up a mountain, or going camping in the backcountr y in the winter, requires a different set of skills than the rest of the year. Thus, those who want to safely en- joy the experience need to be able to learn the tools, prac- tice the skills, and have knowledge of the safety precautions involved. We got up early the next day and had yet again another de- licious breakfast at the Heart Lake Loj. The evening before, after dinner, we assembled in groups and devised plans to hike up the peaks in the area. Some are 46ers with elevations higher than 4,000'. Each person got to choose which group she or he would like to join. Each group would climb one mountain, and be led by a group of instructors. Some of the 46ers that would be hiked were: Mount Marcy, Algonquin, Dix, Iroquois, Colden, and Giant. However, there were groups that decided to hike up lower elevation mountains. Ever yone was encouraged to hike the peak they felt most comfortable with. We started early and went with our groups to each spe- cific mountain. I decided to climb Hurricane. It certainly was not one of Adiroandack's 4,000+ peaks, coming in at 3,694'. In fact, it is one of the lowest bald peaks in the area, with the tree line at about 3,450'. The peak has a huge open summit with incredi- ble views of most of the lower great range, in addition to the firetower. I chose to climb up an "easy" mountain as a first timer to winter mountaineering. It was a tough decision, of course, as I'd have liked to go ahead and challenge myself to climb

• Cover