Scoping Out Eleventh Mountain
25th February 2008
by Jay Harrison
Monday dawned sunny and warm, so in anticipation of an upcoming exploration/ice climbing trip, I went out to Eleventh Mountain to have a look-see. I know that the entire west side of the mountain has ledges and small cliff bands, so I was hoping to find some good ice lines. Once again, either I went above or below them or something; I didn't stumble on anything that looked awesome. But the walk was enjoyable despite the empty game bag.
I drove to the Siamese Ponds Trailhead and began walking up the trail. One early winter a year or two ago, I made the error of bushwhacking directly from the parking lot, which had put me far above Eleventh's western flank. On that trip, I ended up entering the hanging valley that runs north-south about half-way up the mountain; wandering through a massive hobblebush garden on my way down to Diamond Brook. Several tantalizing features are there, but none was obviously worth the strenuous bushwhack to get to them.
This time, I stuck to the trail for awhile. In a few minutes, I came to a couple of short ice cliffs beside the trail. They would be an entertaining addition to a day hike or backpacking trip up here, but none were more than eight meters high, so they wouldn't constitute an ice climbing trip on their own. I didn't stop to climb them, as I expected to see better stuff farther along.
I walked up the Siamese Ponds trail to just barely past the height-of-land. Where the trail cuts away from the flank of Eleventh and a gully begins separating the two, I took off to stay near the steeps. Though it enabled me to look at possibilities up close, doing this was probably a mistake, because I could no longer see the higher reaches of the mountain. On my return I could better see the cliffs I wanted to scope out, farther north from my departure point. It does look like there is at least one good ice route up there, and I certainly missed it, and several other possibilities, on my way along the mountain.
Once I left the trail, I wandered up and down quite a bit, following any leads that looked promising. I found a lot of short ice lines interspersed with steep snow slogging; nothing to write home about. Many promising ramps led upward, only to end in small bowls with short, six to eight meter walls at their tops; plenty of steep ice at these places, but never tall enough to warrant a return trip. These same features played out several times almost identically: follow ramp, wallow up to the end, a bowl with ice in nearly the same shape and height as the last one. At times I thought I might be somehow wandering in circles!
I walked along all the way around the mountain's northwest corner, then dropped down and crossed Diamond Brook. The thaw of the past week had built an ice dam upstream of a fallen tree, so it was a trivial matter getting over the stream. This would not always be the case; Diamond Brook is too wide and deep to ford or cross on rocks.
I then climbed part way up Diamond Mountain, where I found more "almost-but-not-quite" ice climbing potential; and of course looked over and saw things I had missed on Eleventh. I didn't have a map with me, so I didn't know exactly where I was, but I estimate my northernmost point was near the eastern side of Diamond Mountain's main peak. Based on the ability to see Eleventh's western flank, I couldn't have been on the small satallite peak farther northeast. I was probably just west of the drainage that divides it the two.
I gained enough height to traverse along the steepest part of Diamond Mountain, and finally had to backtrack in order to descend to safer walking. I continued walking along the base of the steep rise, once more rising and descending to scope out small bowls whose headwalls were just a bit too short to warrant exploration. Just before cutting downslope for good, I found one spot where the ice or rock climbing might push into twelve-plus meters of ascent. This was right at the point where Diamond Mountain turns westward, and a notch runs down toward the Sacandaga River. I didn't want to get too far northward into terrain I wasn't familiar with, so I headed downward here, through the notch. Past a small waterfall and after negotiating a tiny marsh, I wandered westward just above what I suspected was a hobblebush haven.
I continued down and over to intersect the Siamese Ponds Trail again, hitting it about a quarter mile north of the
Diamond Brook/East Sacandaga confluence, not far from Burnt Shanty Clearing. Then I plodded back to the car, catching sight of what looked like a passable line I missed on Diamond Mountain and of course, the stuff on Eleventh. I stomped out a short track pointing straight at the best-looking potential ice route on Eleventh, so perhaps we can find it before the season ends.
The heavy snowfall of Tuesday and Wednesday made a slog out to Eleventh untenable, so this ended up being my only trip thus far out for a look. Hopefully, another opportunity will present itself before the end of March. Otherwise, it will be another "next year" sort of thing...
P.S. I also realized one of my MSR Denali Snowshoes is beginning to break. Two of the rivets have popped off - I've known this for awhile - but now the front of the shoe is starting to fatigue. Goodness, they're only Twelve Years Old! Lol.
Generally speaking, if a piece of outdoor equipment lasts me two full seasons, it's as solid as it gets. I cannot complain about these snowshoes. I tried to break them the day I test-drove 'em (ca. 1996) and haven't treated them well ever since. They are therefore, highly recommended.
UPDATE: 2nd March, 2008
I went to Auger Falls today, where I met several ADK forummers. They had scouted for ice climbing possibilities and found only one, which entailed a death-defying traverse across the top of the waterfall and climbing above it. Any slips or misstep would have literally been deadly, so we did not attempt it.
After walking back out, I had plenty of sunshine left, so I decided to return to Eleventh, find my mark from the last trip, and head up to what I thought might be good ice. I did so, and found that what looked like good ice was too short to be worthwhile, even if it had been next to the trail a mile in, to say nothing of being an arduous slog a half-mile up from the trail. I believe I can write off Eleventh's western shoulder for ice climbing potential, along with Auger and Griffin Falls now.