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Winter Hiking in the Macintyre Range, New York State

United States
2 nights
Tough

Take on the impressive MacIntyre Range hike in the Adirondack Mountains - learning winter mountaineering skills as you go

What's Included?

Small Like-minded Groups

Solo-friendly by design, join our small n’ sociable groups of up to 9 like-minded, active and outdoorsy people
From

…

excluding flights
From

…

excluding flights

What's it like?

Tackle three challenging peaks in The MacIntyre Range - one of the Adirondack Mountains most impressive and beautiful ranges - and be rewarded with panoramic winter-wonderland views.

Learn beginner mountaineering skills while hiking with crampons, ice axes, and snowshoes. Discover how to stay warm and safe in harsh winter conditions.

Warm up next to the stone fireplace and refuel with home-cooked meals at your base, a historic lodge on Lake Placid in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains.

Key Information

Day 1

Head to the Adirondacks

Hiking

2 hours · 2 miles · 692ft up · 692ft down

Depart at 07:00, and enjoy a stop for lunch en route at Lake Placid - the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics - before arriving at your destination for the weekend: Adirondack Loj. You'll then test your gear for the next day and make adjustments as necessary during the warm-up hike up Mount Jo. Your expert guides will demonstrate how to adjust and secure crampons and snowshoes, and throughout the hike you will receive instructions on crampon and ice axe use. Once at the top of Mount Jo, you'll be treated to beautiful views of the High Peaks.

After dinner at the Loj, the guides will go over route planning and decision-making on challenging hikes, and you will break up into teams to try your hand at making a plan for the next day. The evening ends with individual gear checks and an early night.

Day 2

The MacIntyre Range: 3 Summits in one day

Hiking

10-11 hours · 12 miles · 3854ft up · 3854ft down

It's a really early start with breakfast at 4:30 in the morning, and an Alpine start on the trail by 5:00 am. You'll need your headlamp as you start on the trail before sunrise. Experience the challenge of winter conditions in the mountains, navigating sheets of ice or deep snow to make your way to each of the three summits.

You'll start by attempting Wright Peak (4,587 ft), then making your way to Algonquin Peak (5,115ft), and finally to the trailless Iroquois Peak (4,843ft). At the end of a long day, you'll arrive back at the Loj to relax, enjoy a delicious 3-course dinner, and unwind with some post-dinner board games.

Day 3

Time to head home

After a well-deserved lie-in, grab a hearty breakfast and relax for the leisurely drive back to New York City, stopping for lunch along the way.

The Area

map

Logistics

Starts

Central Manhattan

0645 on Day 1

Ends

Central Manhattan

Around 18:00 on Day 3 (depending on traffic)

Transfers

On Day 1 you'll meet your host at the corner of Broadway and W 73rd street, northwest corner in front of The North Face store. The drive to the mountains takes around 5-6 hours, with a relaxing stop for lunch. Alternatively - you are welcome to make your own way directly to the first night of accommodation if you wish.

On Day 3 you'll typically arrive back roughly between 1600-1800, however, it is entirely dependent on traffic coming into New York City, which is very unpredictable. We strongly recommend you don't make any plans for the evening or book flights departing until after 2200 - in case of delays.

Travel options

If you are flying in - there are direct flights to New York via JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports from across the US and Europe. From there you can easily make your way into central Manhatten.

Day 1

Lodge · Mixed dorm

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Day 2

Lodge · Mixed dorm

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Day 3

Departure day

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

What is the food like?

Hot breakfast at the lodge consists of oatmeal, toast, eggs, and fruit. Lunch is a choice of sandwich and snacks (candy, chips, trail mix). Dinner is a 3-course meal with salad/soup, a main entree, and a dessert. Vegetarian, vegan and most dietary requirements can be accommodated on this trip.

What is the accommodation like?

Adirondack Loj

You'll be staying at this historic lodge near Lake Placid in the Adirondack High Peaks region. Located on the shore of Heart Lake, the Loj was built in 1927 and is owned and operated by the Adirondack Mountain Club. You'll be staying in mixed 4-person rooms with bunk beds. Much welcome hot showers and tasty meals are served at the lodge.

This trip is brand new

We’re still waiting to collect any reviews from other travellers on this trip. However, all our hosts go through an extensive vetting process to ensure that your adventure is awesome.

Guides

Expert, certified guides with wilderness first responder training

Accommodation

2 nights at the Adirondack Loj

Meals

All meals except lunch on the drive to/from the New York

Transfers

All transfers to/from Central Manhatten

Permits

All entry fees and permits

What is available to hire (see Optional Extras for details)

  • Mountaineering boots
  • Crampons
  • Ice axe

What do I need to bring?

Bags

  • Waterproof rain cover for your backpack
  • 30+L backpack

Clothes

  • Moisture-wicking, non-cotton base layers (top and bottom).
  • Fleece
  • Insulating top layer (puffy)
  • Insulating bottom layer (such as fleece pants)
  • Fully waterproof top and bottom layers that can be worn over all other layers, except summit puffy
  • Summit puffy that's rated at least 850+ down fill or synthetic equivalent. The puffy must be able to be worn over all other layers.
  • Top and bottoms for sleeping
  • Warm winter hat
  • Neck buff
  • Balaclava (you must be able to cover your entire face, so there is no exposed skin)
  • Mountaineering goggles
  • Liner gloves
  • Insulated, waterproof mountaineering mitts
  • At least 3 pairs of wool socks
  • Liner socks (optional)
  • Sun hat

Other

  • Personal toiletries
  • Sunglasses
  • Bug spray
  • Sunscreen
  • Water bottles or bladder (must have 3L capacity in total)
  • Head torch
  • Trekking poles
  • Light and comfortable lodge/car shoes
  • Ear plugs
*Requests for optional extras can be made after booking on your “My Bookings” page

Winter Kit Hire: mountaineering boots, crampons and ice axe

Payable Before Departure

Winter Kit Hire: mountaineering boots, crampons and ice axe

… Per person

We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity.

What's the number?
It works out on average at 110kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.

The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.

But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:

  • Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
  • A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
  • 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.

What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity, ensuring the protection of the reserve and its wildlife.

Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.

Tips are not included in the trip cost. The amount to tip is entirely at your discretion but there is an expectation to tip in the USA; your guides will rely on tips for a considerable portion of their income.

We suggest to budget for 10%-20% of the trip cost as a guideline.

Of course, you are free to tip more or less, and the amount should be reflective of your perception of service and quality - a tip is not compulsory and should only be given when you receive excellent service.

Clean drinking water is available at the Loj.

Room is limited in the van, so participants should only bring their backpack and one small extra item, such as a duffel bag, for any extras.

Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.

Our team of Adventure Hunters co-create exclusive adventures which are run by highly vetted, specialist hosts. The trip is run by our trusted host partner in the destination. We only work with independent, local, in-destination experts who know the very best places to explore and how to stay safe. Read more information about the local teams we partner with. You’ll be introduced to the host straight after making a booking via the Much Better Adventures platform.

Much Better Adventures refer to the UK Government’s official travel advice when designing trips and monitoring trip operations. We recommend that all customers are familiar with the practical information provided on the Government’s FCDO website, where current travel advice can be found by searching for the applicable destination(s).

For customers joining this trip from other international destinations – please also read the official travel advice applicable to your country of residence/origin, as this may differ.

We recommend checking out the country-specific information and also talking to a travel nurse.

We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.

If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.

All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. You must be over 18 to join one of our trips.

You're always in good company on one of our adventures.

Our trips are typically made up of a mixture of solo travellers and small groups of 2 or 3 friends, with most in their 30s-50s.

Our sociable adventures are solo-friendly by design and naturally attract outdoorsy people with a shared mindset; a love for adventure, a desire to push themselves and meet awesome, like-minded people along the way.

It’s this camaraderie that has so often turned a great adventure into a life-changing one.

Don't just take our word for it:

  • 95% of people rate the group dynamics on our trips 5/5
  • 90% of people recommend joining a trip to make new friends
  • 75% of people have met people on our trips that they would now consider friends

See here for more info about the Much Better Adventures tribe.

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