Another adventure. We began the day at 5:30 a.m. and arrived at Pyramid Mtn. summit at 9:30 playing a game of hurry up and wait. When we arrived there was no view...none. The clouds lifted and revealed a rather gloomy wet face on Gothics.

New Route created with Adam Crofoot: 505 feet, (5.7) YDS in the remote Panther Gorge!

Photo 1: Mosaic of various slide areas.
Photo 2: Kevin climbing a lower section of the slide, photo by NP Photography.
Photo 3: Beautiful ice formations were on the left for a 1/4 mile.
Photo 4: One of the 3 rappels we employed.
Photo 5: Kevin walking under a large overhang just before the most exposed pitches.

Photos and text: http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23392 or www.mackenziefamily.com/46/46r.html

Duration: 10 hours
MapTech Total Mileage/Vertical Ascent: 12.5 Miles/5,200’
Route: Garden to Bennies Brook (2.4 miles), ascend slide, trail to LWJ summit. Descend Range Trail to Wolfjaws Trail. Follow drainage up to base of Skinny Slide. Bushwhack left to Range Trail, descend to Interior Outpost and Garden.
Benchmarks: Begin: 7:30 a.m., Top Bennies Root Canal: 11:30 a.m., Top Skinny Slide: 2:00 p.m., End: 5:30 p.m.
Trail Conditions: Wet, mud, ice, minimal snow. Mixed climbing on slides
Temperature: 25-35F
Partner: Azimuth (Ranger Scott van Laer)

Mileage/Elevation Gain: Approximately 12 miles/4,200 feet
Route: South Meadows –Marcy Dam-Avalanche Lake-Trap Dike to the 2011 “Trap Dike Slide”-Summit-Lake Arnold-South Meadows.
Climbers: Samuel Hecklau, Jace Mullen, William Hearty, Eric McIntyre, Caitlin Kelly, Margaret Chandler, Sophie Janeway, Alexander Ball, Kevin MacKenzie.

Panther Gorge holds a place in my heart like no other in the Adirondacks. The remote wilderness, deep forested valley and magnificent rock on all sides tickle my imagination and curiosity every time I bushwhack it. Pillars of stone in front of towering fractured walls…nature’s masterpieces guard the northern entrance; the south is gentler along Marcy Brook though it’s a test to enter or exit from any direction.

Panther Gorge is remote, stunningly beautiful, seemingly primeval and humbling. One has to explore it to understand the full depth of its beauty with its talus caves, drainages and hanging moss. You have to descend between the vertical cliffs of Little Haystack and Marcy to feel the power of the area. It doesn’t take long to feel completely alone: isolated. To then climb Marcy’s East Face and explore it from all sides cannot completely be described. If anywhere is my home away from home, this is it.

Intro/Thoughts
I topped Santanoni’s East (Twin) Slide on Monday, August 5th. While scanning to the east something seemed amiss in the panorama. Two white scars, partially hidden behind one of Dix’ western ridges, painted what looked like the side of the southern ridge (between the Beckhorn and Hough). I pushed it to the back of my mind at first. The next day, I grew curious and scanned a few photos from trip reports on the forum. Comparing June and July photos from Hough confirmed that Dix had a new slide added to its already extensive collection. Time to explore!

We'd just climbed the "Back in the Saddle" (northeast) slide on Saddleback and wanted one more climb; Gothics West Face slabs looked gnarly. A bit over 600' of elevation gain on steep terrain was the perfect end to our day. For those who are familiar with Gothics, this face is just to the right of the cable route if looking at it from Saddleback Mountain.

The red line is for photo inset reference ONLY, not as a defined route; conditions change by day.

The neve was good to solo the Original Route on Gothics. There was some open rock and ice surrounding the crack, but pristine conditions on route. The red line is for photo inset reference ONLY, not as a defined route; conditions change by day.

More photos and pictures at: www.mackenziefamily.com/46/46r.html on the Slides and Bushwhacking page.