Slide Mountain

Slide is the highest peak in the Catskills, though it wasn't known as such until the late 1800's. Its elevation is still not official but several surveys show it to be over 4200'
Bicknell's thrush was first identified on Slide Mt.
One of the 4 peaks in the Catskills 3500 Peak Challenge requiring a winter ascent.

Routes

P-E trail to W-C-S trail

31 summits • 5.7 mi • 2,287 ft gain • 5 hr 29 min

Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail

4 summits • 16.6 mi • 4,709 ft gain • 6 hr 47 min

Slide Mountain 17.5 mi route

1 summit • 17.5 mi • 7,707 ft gain • 9 hr 33 min

Slide Mountain 20.7 mi route

1 summit • 20.7 mi • 4,841 ft gain • 13 hr 39 min

Slide Mountain 5.4 mi route

1 summit • 5.4 mi • 1,630 ft gain • 2 hr 31 min

Latest summits

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"Finally reuniting with some of my hiking peeps, flexible flyer, olive and Irish George, for a traverse of the Burroughs range. Hillsounds all day while taking our snowshoes for a ride. We had the summits of Slide and Wittenberg to ourselves and met very few other hikers along the way. On Cornell David Zhu popped in while we were enjoying our lunch buffet. We provided him info on the single season triangle patch while entertained us with his recent exploits in the Whites and Catskills. Mimi’s dumplings and cream puffs put an additional smile on his face and delaying his return to Woodland Valley. The 100’ webbing was deployed at a ledge on the back side of Slide and the Cornell Crack just because we had it and for utmost fun and safety." — Nimblefoot • Feb 16, 2020

"Spring is back with a temperature of 58* in the Slide PA around 9am. Just three days earlier the temp. was down in the single digits on my drive up. Burroughs range traverse with Tom, Christy, Yong Ae, Mimi and Cathy. First hurdle was getting across the Neversink which was running higher than normal with recent rain and snow melt. Cathy and I scooted a crossed a fallen tree, which worked well at keeping our feet dry, then waited quite awhile for the others to get a crossed. They did a combination of slowing walking across a fallen tree then rock hopping or wading with garbage over their boots. With the snow and ice slowly disappearing we were constantly putting on and taking off our sacrificial Hillsounds. The only snow we found was on the backside of Slide which led to a lot of sudden post holes and the associated hoots and hollers. Once down to the col the snow was completely gone and we could hike on bare ground. On the climb to Cornell we picked up ice and crusty snow in patches which continued all the way over to Witt and down toward Woodland Valley. Lower down back to bare ground like winter didn’t happen. We had all three summits to ourselves." — Nimblefoot • Jan 12, 2020

"My old hiking buddy Itty Bitty(Marguerite)put out a request for additional folks to help break trail up Slide. I got home late last night after breaking trail up to Mount Sherrill and North Dome on Tuesday 12/3 so I left home late today. When I got to the PA she and another friend John P. had already headed up breaking trail. I chased them all the way up, on legs still cooked from yesterday, finally meeting them on their way down approximately 5 minutes from the summit. We chatted a bit before I continued up to the view ledge beyond the summit to have lunch then attempt to catch them on my way down. I finally caught them down low and walked out with them the final mile and half or so. Fortunately the snow wasn’t as deep as we found on North Dome/Sherrill yesterday. Mid week so didn’t see any other folks out playing in the snow. On my way out on RT 47 I had the grand experience of spotting an Eagle perched in a tree alongside the road." — Nimblefoot • Dec 4, 2019

"We had a beautiful day for a Catskill Niner with cool temps and sunshine. We enjoyed a clear star filled sky with our headlamp start and the same after our headlamp finish. Only met other hikers on Witt and Friday then one guy on BC then we met on Friday before a noisy group crowded the small summit/canister area. Our passage through the “Dink” was our easiest so far with only minimal pokes and a growing amount of open stretches." — Nimblefoot • Nov 2, 2019

"A beautiful warm cloudless in which to take on the Catskill 9. Low point, getting stabbed by thousands of trees. High point, watching the sunset on Table and the stars on Peekamoose." — Right-On • Sep 21, 2019

"Tom and I had a beautiful clear day to do a traverse of the Burroughs range from Woodland Valley to Slide mountain PA. Someone has left a length of nylon webbing in the Cornel crack to aid in ascending/descending though the way it is tied to the small tree I wouldn’t put a lot of weight on it. Near the Slide mountain PA a young couple was just heading in with no gear looking for a lake(?). We told them it was private and the trail went to Slide mountain which involves some good elevation gain and at least water should be carried. They continued on up the trail with nothing." — Nimblefoot • Sep 19, 2019

"Tom, Peter and I did the Denning 9 starting at the Denning PA visiting Table first and finishing on Slide. A warm humid day but fortunately not excessively hot and clouds rolled in during the afternoon to block the sun occasionally. We didn’t see anybody until Lone where we found a group of Jewish summer campers having breakfast at the canister complete with one in a hammock acrossed the herdpath. Certainly inappropriate but at least they were friendly and were willing to take our canister photo at peak #3. We whacked so far acrossed the Dink we almost made it to the summit of Cornell. The going got so steep and thick we decided to pop out to the trail, only a minute from the spur trail. On Witt we saw only five other hikers which was a surprise since it was a holiday and such a nice day. After a wonderful respite at the spring below Slide we got to the summit viewing ledge only to find another Jewish group taking over the entire ledge doing some sort of religious reading/meditation/ seance silently even though on our climb up we could hear bouts of hooting and hollering. The Curtis-Ormsby trail was a pleasant soft pine needle covered trail dropping us down to the P-E trail for the..." — Nimblefoot • Jul 4, 2019

"Tom and I did “The Nine”in a more or less straight line starting from Peekamoose road and ending at the Slide mountain PA on Co. route 47. The threat of an afternoon thunderstorm and the occasional patch of black flies kept us moving from 6:30 to 5:00 with very little lollygagging. The only peak where met other hikers was Wittenberg where we took a short break to eat lunch. The spring below Slide was a welcome respite during our final ascent of the day then once on top we were chased off by a growing mob of black flies. Down at the PA while enjoying a chilled beverage we discussed the possibility of doing Panther as a bonus peak, fortunately common sense encouraged us to call it a day. " — Nimblefoot • Jun 1, 2019

"We did a nice traverse of the Burroughs range starting from Woodland Valley. Beautiful sunny day allowing us to enjoy a leisurely lunch of Yong Ae’s Korean pancakes containing calamari and local ramps. Before summiting Slide we took a side trip out to a plane crash then did a short but steep whack to regain the trail." — Nimblefoot • May 11, 2019

"Did a loop traverse of the "Catskill 9" with two hiking companions to close out my winter round finish of the Catskill 35 in style (35/35 on Rocky Mountain, and the rest were bonus summits). We started from the Denning Road Trailhead at 7 AM, heading counterclockwise up Table and Peekamoose before bushwhacking over the four trailless peaks. Climbing the col from Friday to Dink and Cornell was brutal. The forest is dense and fights you at every step. When we finally hit marked trail again, we were banged up, bloody, and grateful to be out of the mess. My favorite Outdoor Research Whirlwind Hoodie did not survive Dink's wrath. The snowpack is high over the burroughs range, and being elevated into the forest canopy felt like we were still bushwhacking. The Cornell Crack required a rope to safely negotiate. Once down, we dropped our packs and jogged the trail out and back to Wittenberg. Climbing up Slide's eastern face on tired legs was a real challenge. We enjoyed an ice cold celebratory beer at the top, and then made the long descent back to the car. The trip was just under 20 miles and about 5100 feet of gain." — wacbravo • Mar 16, 2019

"Beautiful sunny day for Tom and I to do a traverse of the Burroughs range. Chatted with a guy in the Slide PA, planning to do just Slide for one of the 4 required peaks, would be the only other hiker we would see all day. Nice packed trail all the way to the summit but then unbroken toward Cornell." — Nimblefoot • Mar 11, 2019

"Of all the mountains and hills that I have climbed over the past 30 months, Slide Mountain probably had the lowest reward-to-effort ratio in my estimation. The initial challenge was crossing a fairly large stream with rushing water, thin ice patches, and not too many rocks to assist with the stream crossing. Taking the advice of a person I spoke with on Hunter Mountain, I headed a considerable distance upsteam before making my way across. After that, it was a steady incline up the mountain without too much leveling off until I got close to the top -- around the 3,800-ft. mark according to the topo map. The views from the summit were only so-so. Better ones were found a short distance away, but even those paled in comparison to Overlook's and Hunter's offerings from their respective firetowers. On the plus side, it wasn't crowded at all. I only passed two other hikers the entire time (not bad for a Saturday afternoon!) and had complete solitude on the summit and for the entire second-half of my hike. All totaled, I saw fewer than a dozen people on the three popular hikes I did today (Overlook, Hunter, and Slide). I was expecting it to be at least 10x as crowded. Due to being..." — theascent • Feb 9, 2019

"Ten of us rendezvoused at the Slide mountain PA to hike the final peak of Miyon Sung’s 3-season Cat 35 quest. On the summit we met another festive group led by fellow gridders Charlie and Val. Both groups had their share of beverages and treats to eat. After passing the true summit of Slide Miyon reached the “celebrated summit “ ledge under an arch of trekking poles and the tune of “Celebration” by Kool and Gang playing on Yong Ae’s phone and Tom taking a video of the proceedings. Once packs were dropped and puffies put on the feast of sliders, scones and babka was consumed among other treats. Two bottles of bubbly were popped in her honor followed by the presentation of her patch and a hand made poster of the 35 peaks with dates and sights from the summits suitable for framing. Photo ops and clean up then it was time to descend back to the PA where Charlie and Val led their gang in a celebration dance in honor of Miyon’s completion. Off to Brios where Miyon treated us to pizza to complete a lovely day. " — Nimblefoot • Feb 3, 2019

"Nine of us took a stroll across the Burrough Range to complete Laura’s and Tom’s first Catskill 420 Grid and my second. We arrived earlier than planned but were still greeted by six friends and the summit steward. More friends would arrive in ones and twos within the next hour. Everyone including the steward and other hikers were treated to a cooler filled with ice cream sandwiches and fruit bars, homemade cookies and rhubarb crumb bars and homemade fruit filled hand pies from a CIA chef/instructor. A complete sugar rush for two hours before heading down to the PA for celebratory beverages. We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day with the heat and humidity at a more reasonable level compared to the previous week. " — Nimblefoot • Jul 8, 2018

"Steve and I decided not to be present at Mr Magoo’s Catskill Grid finish on Balsam Lake mtn. and instead visit two more peaks for our grids, Slide and Balsam. The trail up Slide was mostly free of ice or snow except for the final stretch to the summit area. We skirted the ice patches on our way up then chose to pop on the micros for easier striding on our descent. Cleared most of the limbs and blow downs that we found on the trail." — Nimblefoot • May 5, 2018

"Steve joined me for a hike through the Burroughs Range. After dropping a car off in Woodland Valley and driving up to the Slide PA we had an easy ascent up Slide on a well packed trail. We spent extra time clearing off any limbs or blow downs from the trail as a force of habit. An excellent day to be out with the nice clear blue sky and warmer temps. Had the summit to ourselves before pushing on to Cornell." — Nimblefoot • Apr 21, 2018

"Seven of us hiked the Long Path and Burroughs range from Lanes street to the Slide mountain PA. We deviated onto the pleasant Curtis-Ormsby trail on our descent to avoid the rocky W-C-S trail. A wonderful day in the mountains was made very unpleasant with me falling ill from food poisoning or stomach flu just as we got to the cars. That was the worst two hour drive back home that I have experienced.....not recommended!" — Nimblefoot • Oct 28, 2017

"Out with the wife hitting Slide and West Kill mountains for the month. Got an early start so we had the summit to ourselves then passed the weekend crowds as we descended back to car. Had a short chat with the summit steward heading up just before we reached the parking lot." — Nimblefoot • Sep 2, 2017

"Steve and I joined a Mohonk hikers/ Rip Van Winkle hikers group hike led by our friends Tom & Anna traversing the Burroughs range. Trail between Cornell and Slide was definitely wet and mucky making us look forward to an ascent in order to have a dry trail. On top we find two summit stewards from the NYNJ trail conference who seem to be just hanging out and not interacting with the hikers on the open ledge. We got lucky with the weather and made it down to the Slide mtn PA before the rain started coming down which shortened our rehydration/snack period." — Nimblefoot • Aug 12, 2017

"Enjoyed a beautiful hike of this mountain. perfect conditions for snowshoeing. Roughly 5.4 miles RT, mostly moderate trail, great views from the summit. We started to head over to Cornell but the trail had not been tracked out and the deep, dry snow was slick on the backside - not having been on the trail before we dropped a few hundred feet, navigated a few tricky spots but without knowing the trail we decided it was better to wait to complete another day. We climbed back up, enjoyed the views along the way and made our way back to the car." — deb-and-rob • Jan 28, 2017