Backcountry Skiing - Mt. Marcy Trip

Following a decent snowfall winter in January and February, my friend Dave and I decided to do a backcountry ski trip out to Mt. Marcy. Starting from Adirondack Loj, the trip is about 7.4 miles one-way to the summit. After making sure we were prepared with all our necessary gear, we put on our skis and started our trip. The Van Hoevenberg Trail to Marcy Dam is about 2.3 miles with easy ups and downs and is a good warmup for the steeper terrain ahead.

Overall, it was a nice day in the low 30s and mainly sunny skies. The trail had a good snowpack, so it made for a relatively smooth climb all the way to the summit area. We were enjoying catching up, so we made several stops along the way to chat and also a longer stop at Indian Falls to enjoy the view and fuel up with food and water. At about 6 hours into our day, we stopped close to the summit, but didn’t go all the way to the top, as the conditions were looking a bit unfavorable on this particular day. 

We soaked up the panoramic views of the surrounding ADK High Peaks for a bit, then prepped our gear for our descent back down to Marcy Dam. Other than the open bowl on the summit cone and one designated ski trail below Indian Falls, the rest of the ski trip is done on the hiking trail. Given that most of the trail is relatively narrow, you just had to be cautious of any other hikers or skiers that may be making their way up. 

The trip back was definitely a fun experience with the majority of it being downhill to Marcy Dam. We made a couple of stops here and there on the descent and overall this part of the trip back took us about 2.5 hours.