Pitchoff Mountain

"Started at about 7:30 in Cascade Pass. The trail up Pitchoff isn't strenuous and is pretty straightforward, besides the swing out to the beautiful view from the Balanced Boulders. No views from Pitchoff's summit, but great views of Cascade Mountain, Hurricane Mountain, Mount Colden, and Mount Marcy from the ridge. Scrambles on the ridge were moist and extremely slippery. One bad downclimb before you reach East Pitchoff, which has a wonderful view into Keene Valley. Trail down is nothing special. Steep, rocky, and ugly. Decided to hike Mount Jo and was lucky enough to get a spot at 12:30. The Short Trail is somewhat steep but great trail work that gets you to the stunning vista of the MacIntyre Mountains, Street Mountains, Mount Marcy, Table Top Mountain, and Phelps Mountain. The Long Trail down is much prettier and gentler and we enjoyed this route to get back to the trailhead." — elimihuta • Sep 14, 2024

"Getting Baxter and Pitchoff for the LP-9. Bopped out to Balanced Boulders on my way back from Pitchoff. In my haste I overshot the summit of Pitchoff a bit when I finally noticed Cascade was behind me rather than directly across Rt 73. Most THs were busier than I expected for a Monday but then again it’s Leaf season and a holiday weekend coming up. Excellent afternoon after driving up from home." — Nimblefoot • Oct 3, 2022

"Nice fall day. There is no view on top. To get a nice view travel approx 0.2 miles pass the summit. Nice ledge to take in a view on this ledge. Also took a side trip to Balance Rock on the way down. Great views here. " — Tree2topper • Sep 24, 2022

"Planned on doing a traverse over Pitchoff (W to E) but realized halfway through that I left my keys in my friend's car. So, we looped back after hitting the summit, stopped at Balanced Boulders on the ascent, which provided great views and was a wide-open rock face, It was a bit windy on some climbs and the summits. We needed spikes for a part of it, but overall great sunny weather and not too difficult of a hike, a few technical scrambles. After getting back to the car, we decided to continue to Cascade Mountain. Muddy for the first half, icy on the second half so spikes were needed. Summit was beautiful as always, but extremely windy. Overall, 9-10 miles in 6 hours between the two peaks. " — gregoryskiba • Dec 17, 2021

"Did as a traverse with Stephanie. Sketchy parts at times. Invigorating! Loved my new boots! The fun started a few miles from the end! Snow flurries!! Hard to see paint on rocks. Up and down the ridge! Thank goodness for heated seats!" — lfrancois • Nov 3, 2021

"Very windy day but fun climb! As a acrophobe, a few places were sketchy for me, but Bailey the Hiking Pup and I had fun regardless. A light dusting of snow covered a beautiful Cascade Mountain top. Met several amazing folks on the trail. One kind gentleman helped my short self up one tricky section. Much butt sliding occurred on the way down :-)" — Mousetek • Oct 19, 2021

"Tom, Black and I left the Cascade trailhead at 9:30 am @ +3 degrees, no wind and blue skies. Good trail conditions and snowshoes all the way. No real view at the summit but Balanced Rock views were awesome! Returned to car at 12:56." — garyogden • Jan 31, 2021

"My second hike of the day. Parked at the western end and headed up. Stopped at Balancing Boulders on the way up. Glad I did, the view there was excellent. Randomly teamed up with a couple of ladies who offered a ride from the other side. So I took them up on it and hiked all the way along the ridge and down the eastern side. " — newenglandwarrior • Sep 18, 2020

"A great cloudy with sun kind of solo day to clear my head by finishing off my LP9er climbs,, Pitchoff Mountain was semi steep and very slippery in areas with wet rock scrambles, Balanced Rocks was very cool to see and ended up hiking the whole sentinel range then descending the mountain to highway and walking back to car along roadway all and all about 5 hour hike back to the car. Then off to Bears Den at Whiteface ski resort in Wilmington N.Y. The water falls and streams along the drive were an extra bonus and checking out the fishermen along the route,, Trail was wet in a lot of areas but not much mud and no bugs today, A continual incline but very nice hike meeting up with a few other like wise hikers along the route to chat with of the experience,, About 2 1/2 hours to climb and descend then an hour snooze in the car before the 3hr. drive home,, Love the Adirondacks " — ramjet1963 • May 11, 2019

"The weather - outstanding, the mountains - beautiful in a dusting of snow but, as always its the company that makes the hike - laughs, smiles and lots of goofing off - a fabulous day working on the LP 9." — deb-and-rob • Jan 5, 2019