This spring when i was on Panther Mtn's south viewpoint i was looking over at Slide and was really intrigued by its northeast face, and thought of John Sasso's great write-up in the Catskill Canister a month or two prior of his group's climb of that area last fall. There was still snow, or at least ice, still present on the old slide area that day this last spring, and it reminded me of Algonquin Peak's appearance from Wright Peak. Afterwards I went back and reread John's report from their fall trip, and looked for any other reports of that face that i could find (other than Burroughs himself I think i struck out), and became determined to ascend it myself before the year was out. I finally went for it this Sunday, and while I believe I gave at least a decent attempt and enjoyed some serious Type II fun, spoiler alert: I did not actually ascend the old slide itself.
It was close to freezing when i started off from Woodland Valley Campground trailhead Sunday morning right around 8am, it looked like all the other cars in the lot had their windows frosted over so I was either the first out of the lot on the day, or other hikers were already off much earlier than myself. I started up toward Wittenberg on the trail, signing in at the register with a note that I was whacking to Slide from its northeast, and kept moving up the trail for a little ways. Maps show two sharp curves in the trail not far south of the register, with the first lower and closer to the Woodland property line. I decided to leave the trail at the second sharp curve at the higher elevation; while I knew this meant I would have to descend down to the creek before then reascending on approach to Slide, I was hoping it would allow me the short western traverse on "gentler" terrain along further spaced contours. While it was initially an annoying mossy block field right off the trail, it soon became smoother open woods for a bit until hitting the ledges lining the top of the steep slope on Woodland Creek's east bank. It was something to round that shoulder with the leaves mostly fallen from the trees and be able to see Slide Mtn from that area. It was reassuring to get a great bearing on the correct drainage's split, and started working my way downhill to the creek, aiming to keep a route that would not let me miss the creek's crucial fork.
When I got down to the flat it was nice to find there was actually some level easy ground along the creek, and initially it was a nice stroll along the brook. Below the last major fork in the creek I came to a spot where the water suddenly came out of the ground to form a puddle and an ensuing creek; it was flowing at a good rate downhill below me but it was just simply coming out of the rocks above with the creek bed upstream completely bone dry. I thought this odd, and filtered some water from where the creek came out of the ground just in case the stream bed really remained dry further along. Moving uphill again I soon came to a point where I could hear the creek running again ahead of me, and saw that it was going underground at puddling areas. Not far beyond this area I came to the creek's last major split, where there was a mossy ledge with two waterfalls coming over it, one on each side from each of the two drainages, with the left waterfall (not my intended route) having many smaller waterfalls cascading down in the distance.
I got started up past the right waterfall, staying as close to the creek as possible and saw many neat features, but began getting frustrated with the footing, often on steep side-hilling routes as well as getting whipped in the face by small saplings (I can not understand the physics of how a solo hiker can get snapped in the face, and so often, by the small trees he has just pushed past). While I expected this route to be a workout, and have been on some frustrating bushwhacks, one aspect I did not expect was every time looking up towards the slide area I was blinded by the sun which was right above Slide's profile. This occurred from the last split's waterfall until I finally gained the shoulder ridge over an hour later. I had to get further up away from the creek at one point, higher than I was hoping up an extremely steep slope, and I knocked a large rock loose which I could hear for awhile tumbling down towards the creek. A few other times the rocks under my feet would give way just enough to cause immediate worry and require awkward uphill leg lunging motions that quickly taxed my muscles. It was at this point that I took a last squinting look towards the slide area and the sun and saw what I think was the seemingly near vertical tree line next to the old slide, my closest view of the slide area, and called it quits on my main objective and determined to head straight up for Slide's north ridge. This was an extremely exhausting stretch, and pushed my pace up this slope to the point of cramps. I took a water break upon finding a deflated shiny balloon in the woods, and packed out one of "Birthday King"'s celebratory decorations. With all the sweat and the start of cramping I was ecstatic to finally see the blue sky through the trees up above, signaling I was reaching the ridge's top, and climbed up one last steep ledge to reach thankfully relatively level ground. Afterwards looking at caltopo's slope angle shading and my gps route, this stretch was probably not much less steep than if I had gone right up actual slide area, with over an hour straight of my path not less than 35 to 45 degrees.
I soon reached the marked trail and felt great again going up the much less strenuous northwest summit ridge, hitting the summit tower concrete pouring and then finding a spot on the open rock above the plaque with a much greater grounded respect for the routes of Johns Sasso and Burroughs. After refueling I headed down to the spring, meeting a couple of hikers who camped out the night before toward Table and were going to camp another night towards Woodland Valley. I guzzled some nuun water and topped off my pack's bladder, and headed down towards the col appreciative to be taxing different leg muscles on a descent. However soon my legs were then telling me that I had pushed my earlier ascent pace a bit much as I started uphill again climbing towards Cornell's summit, but was rewarded on the viewing rock that looks back towards Slide's bowl and the shoulder that I had climbed just an hour or so prior. I took the short and unremarkable side-out to Cornell's summit before enjoying a good toe-wedge down the Cornell Crack.
I came to the "Bruin's Causeway" between Cornell and Witt, and though I have traversed that area several times the last bunch of years I realized something for the first time on Sunday; having gone to college in beantown I became, and still am, a Boston sports fanatic and have actually seen the black and gold Bruins play on Causeway Street several times. Thought that was a pretty crazy coincidence.
Looking at my watch and knowing I had a headlamp plus another source of light, I took my time thoroughly enjoying Wittenberg's awesome summit amphitheater for about a half an hour. I looked for other possible adventures, thinking about Cornell and Witt from Moonhaw with maybe a descent including Samuel's Point. I also looked over to Balsam Cap, wondering what that different colored stretch is on one of its southeast ridges and thinking that I should check it out sometime. But mostly I made a conscious effort to just simply appreciate being in such a great place on such a beautiful day.
Getting going downhill I started seeing more and more ice, though not close to needing the spikes stashed in my pack it made me think that maybe I would have found more uncomfortable amounts of ice tucked in the shadows of the old slide's northern face if I had gone for a more direct route on it earlier, giving me some consolation for quitting on the actual slide area. But it felt great to be moving along downhill, and kept a pace that got me to my truck at the trailhead with enough light left that I barely did not need my headlamp.
While my main objective for the day was to climb Slide's bowl face and I did not accomplish this, I was also hoping to challenge myself with some good bushwhacking and tough terrain while keeping a good pace. Overall it ended up being an amazing morning of Type II fun that was terrifically challenging and rewarding, followed by appreciating the great weather on Sunday later on at the viewpoints, and
(once i am able to forget those crazy steep slopes with horrible footing and getting whipped in the face by so many saplings)
I absolutely intend to give that slide a better attempt.