The Adirondack Tool Company team considers Mount Haystack to be the most difficult winter trek in the Adirondacks. As the third-tallest summit in New York, and standing at 4,960 feet, we knew this one would give us the test we craved.
After conquering Mount Washington, Mount Marcy, and Mount Adams in the winter, we decided on a new goal - reach the most remote and unrelenting peak in the Adirondacks. This goal brought us to Mount Haystack, which if not the most remote, is certainly close.
From our experience, we knew the 16.5mile round trip would be grueling, but we never thought it would take us 4 attempts to reach the summit. On our first, we decided to go in the early winter (December 7th), not fully understanding that there's a deep river that needs to be crossed with no bridge. We were ~6miles in on our first attempt, and we reached a river that looked as wide as the Hudson. We stood there for a minute, pondering whether or not we should suffer through another 6-7 hours of soaking wet and bitter cold conditions. Two other man passed us, and they stripped down and entered the water. At first, the thigh-high water seemed manageable, but as the men reached about halfway across, they stepped lower, covering their bodies from the shoulders down with freezing cold mountain runoff. We observed from the start of their river crossing, watching with fear and awe as these men finished crossing, re-dressed, and continued up the trail. "See you at the summit!" they said, and our team looked at each other with disbelief. There was absolutely no way we were following them through that. We turned around, and tried some other routes along the
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