Are exposed ridges the coolest kind of trail?
>>2850157>WAOW look at all this desolate rock with no trees!!The west coast is a joke. A bad one. Do you feel embarrassed to hike there?
>>2850157as a lifelong lowlander i prefer a dilapidated boardwalk through a bog
>>2850159>desolate rock with no trees!!that is called the alpine, sir. east coasters wouldnt understand because none of your mountains get that high. zing!
>>2850159Trees are cool at the bottom of the mountain. At the top I wanna have unsurpassed view of the landscape within a few miles of me
>>2850163this sounds like a bitter cope
>>2850163>At the top I wanna have unsurpassed view of the landscape within a few miles of methere's a couple ways to get this even in broadleaf forests though1. (the most common) rocky outcroppings though sometimes these are mega-narrow and terrifying 2. burn scarsif there was a big forest fire you can have views preserved for decades3. (bonus) balds/sodsif you harvest the trees at a high enough/exposed enough elevation what grows back is often grassland and then you get views as long as you are at the top of it
>>2850161There's a good handful of mountains on the east coast that do have an alpine zone lmao, one is highly popular because of its knife edge to the summit.
>>2850180Let them remain ignorant.
I hate scary trails. There should always be railings!
>>2850157>based tatra enjoyeryes.
>>2850180>The highest mountain on the East Coast of the USA is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, which stands at 6,684 feet >The highest mountain on the West Coast of the USA is Mount Whitney in California, which stands at 14,505 feet ABSOLUTELY MOGGED
>>2850237You can't climb either of them though, so the numbers don't mean anything to you.
>>2850180Based enjoyer
>>2850237>>The highest mountain on the East Coast of the USA is Mount MitchellIt's DenaliAlso>>2850159>>2850161>>2850180>>2850237Go back to >>2848406
>>2850238ive literally climbed all the 8000'ers without supplemental oxygen. watch your tone when you are talking to me, boy.
>>2850157They're cool, there are many other scenic types of trails, tough.
>>2850273
>>2850273thats a gnarly grade, one wrong step and youre taking a tumble, good luck self arresting in all that scree/dirt
>>2850271kek, absolute suicidal mad man
>>2850159>The west coast is a jokeIts fucking Poland you absolute retard
>>2850276>good luck self arresting in all that scree/dirtNo chance. In this spot you're rolling for hundreds of feet before detonating into large rocks. There are even sketchier parts on that trail that I wouldn't touch if it was any wetter than this.
>>2850271I can post bigger bullshitI climbed all 9000'ers free solo dressed as a ballerina while juggling
I brought the worlds tallest stepladder to everest so I could break 10k
>>2850157they can be cool but you need to get off quickly when the weather comes in...
>>2850280He meant 8000-footers.
>>2850282Yeah, it's incredible how quickly it changes there. Had this experience this autumn.
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Just did a knife edge that almost killed me on the way down because it turned into snow and ice. Took 4 hrs to go half a mile
>>2850157Yes
>>28503442spooky5me
where i am exposed ridges grow the best bilberries
>>2850347i've had some great blueberries here in july on the ridges of high hills it wasn't exposed but it was logged as fuck so it was kinda openalso the higher elevation stuff here that's windswept tends to turn into heath mazes with cranberry and other similar plants but HOLY FUCK its the worst place to accidentally get lost in
>>2850348the ankle high windblown bilberries are some of the best i have ever tasted, i think the krummholz-esque effect might make the flavor better.
>>2850278It's actually Slovakia (Poland 2)
>>2850311>Can't wait to go again next week!- /out/ers
>>2850237Mitchell isn't even impressive. New England region has far more impressive peaks for east coast and alpine zones despite being "lower"
>>2850157Having been out to the west coast now a good handful of times I find it much more enjoyable to find a valley that you hike through in between giant mountains. I think it's far more beautiful, you see way more animal life, you often can find varied places where it's a mix of open meadows, rocks, and forests so it's never dull and you can seek shelter from storms if they occur more easily. Hitting the peaks is more like a ego thing imo, most of the time I don't think it's even worth it depending on how the range looks. I'd personally only bother to try it maybe on the volcanoes in Oregon or Washington where it actually is impressive to look down below from the top. I did a 14er while in Colorado and it was pretty disappointing compared to other places i've been at lower alt in Wyoming and Montana.
>>2850391>Everest isn't even impressive. The Karakoram region has far more impressive peaks for the himalayas and alpine zones despite being "lower"
>>2850392I agree. I prefer following creeks when Im in the mnts. They inevitably go up in elevation anyways but the goal isnt 'vert' - just immersion
>>2850438the problem with that here is that in theory that's nice, and certainly you have lower elevation riverwalks that are sometimes pavedbut for higher elevation creeks building a trail along them requires:a) clearing deadfallb) building crossings across the creek c) rebuilding after erosionand they usually just mostly abandon them and you aren't really along the creekyou are either high above it or somehow you are sort of next to it and then you have to go all the way the fuck around it and 100 ft up and the trail is eroded to where its barely 2 ft wide and a steep drop if you miss your pathand, for obvious reasons, most people don't use those trails anymore, so it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle
>>2850439>the problem with thatdunno. thats not a problem in my local NF. The creeks that have trails are well maintained with bridges for numerous crossings, deadfall cleared every yr (sometimes by volunteers) and the trails stick pretty close to the creek depending on terrain- they certainly are not abandoned lol
>>2850375I started looking for trails today for this weekend before realizing i should take a break, kek
>>2850273God. I fucking love limestone and its flora.
>>2850373where exactly? i'm looking for my next alpine holidays and i'm sick of the alps, it's filled to the brim with people and expensive as fuckthere's a good grade III+ ridge in pirenees i plan to go but looking for other candidates
>>2850680>where exactly?Ostrý Roháč, Roháče (part of Western Tatras).
>>2850157cool yes, but super spoopy when it's heavy clouds and you don't even know there's a massive cliff drop on one side of you until the clouds part for half a second and it scares the shit out of you
>>2850346It is not that bad. Class 4 at worst, but mostly class 3. Here is a video of some other guy doing it for perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5EmcgtAIxI
>>2850688Looks awesome i'm in fairly good shape (run 5km or bike 50km easily.) and have decent hiking experience on sketchy single track smaller rock scree etc. Essentially i'm asking if you think I should do it with no climbing experience.
>>2850441hes probably talking about older hiking trails, anywhere reasonably bike accessible with get a lot of work done because mountain bikers actually have money unlike stinky hikers.
>>2850718There are essentially 4 parts to this route. 1. Hike up to Wedgemont Lake. This is just a steep forested trail. It is extremely popular, many other people will be on it.2. Hike from Wedgemont lake to the summit of Mt Cook. This is easy, there is a boulder field but the boulders are small and there is an obvious "trail" through it.3. The ridge traverse from Mt Cook to Mt Weart. This is the knife edge ridge. A few class 4 moves, one of which is a somewhat intimidating downclimb, but mostly class 2-3 scrambling with significant exposure. 4. The descent from Mt Weart back to Wedgemont lake. This descent is not technically difficult but it involves descending a very loose boulder field that is unpleasant. Personally I fell on my ass a couple times descending this. If you are unsure of your ability you could just summit Mt Cook and decide if you want to do the rest when you get there.
>>2850726pic is looking at the ridge from the summit of Mt Cook
>>2850726thanks, I think i'll give the whole thing a go if I managed to get all the way out west this year. I've climbed down a few bigger glacial erratic's and shit before just from being too stupid to not climb up them.
>>2850688i made sure to thumbs down the influencers video :)
>>2850817You know that doesn't do anything, right?
>>2850817influencer bro made a video with no talking just shots of his journey and it has 4k views after 3 years. The guy is providing a service to literally you, well I guess not to you cause you'll never go and hike that route so you don't care what it looks like.
>>2850818if you thumbs down and immediately close a video it affects the algorithm so that it wont be shown on the recommended videos on the "for you" page.
>>2850827or he could just go on a hike and not film it for clout.. you know the way normal humans have done for millions of years until social media obsession became the cancer of a generation
>>2850831Why does it have to be for clout, I don't get it. I watched his video from the link in this thread and now i'm gonna hike it in the early fall next year based on how cool and the mix of doable and dangerous.
>>2850177>>2850164
>>2850849pretty sad to openly admit you are a sheep addicted to influencer slop..i feel sorry for you
>>2850718things like that are not very physically demanding but the problem is that it adds up with the psychological effort, i would recommend making sure you are way more than fit enough (i mean endurance) and progress slowly from routes with easy terrain to more scrambly and more exposed. don't get into difficult terrain unless you have done comparable things before, always be absolutely certain that you know what you are doing and have a backup plan, reevaluate always if you have enough fuel (energy and food, in my experience it's amazing how quickly it can fuck you up if you don't have enough food) and time to keep going or/when you should bail, etc. better to be safe than sorry. in fact you can't be sorry at all in this case, if you fuck up you end up dead or maimed
>>2850953I'm not really concerned about the psychological i've done things like finished the 12th hour of roofing in the dark while a storm is blowing in the next day so I figure it'll be comparable. Also if it makes you feel better I do take the risk pretty seriously i've done some of the most aggressive hikes around me and i've read the rest quarter of freedom of the hills already.
