While all the 46 High Peaks should be experienced by everyone, there is one in particular that is a must for winter climbers, and that is Seymour. The Seward Mountains reside in the Western High Peaks Region and cover a massive expanse of tall, steep, rugged, and secluded mountains. Consisting of Seward, Donaldson, Emmons, and Seymour these mountains also boast some pretty dramatic views while hiking along the well-developed herd paths.

Seymour stands slightly less than 4100’ in elevation. However, unlike the other three, Seymour stands alone in its solitude. While many have made the direct line from Seward to Seymour, I being one of them, it is not a recommended endeavor for everyone. With that in the back of your mind, consider Seymour a peak you would enjoy by itself.

Since we are talking about winter here, I should also throw out the fact that for the most part the road to the Seward Trailhead is not maintained in the winter. The Coreys Road past the Raquette Falls Trailhead is the worst of it. Many smaller cars can’t make it to or past the bridge over Stoney Creek. If you do make it to the Raquette Falls Trailhead you may be able to make it further, but that call is totally up to you. Many winter climbers in search of the winter round of the 46 High Peaks have hiked, snowshoed, or skied the remaining 3.5 miles or so to the Seward Trailhead. Also, there is the chance that the gate could be closed near the Raquette Falls Trailhead – leaving you with no other option but foot travel.

On all occasions that I have ventured into the Sewards in winter I was able to drive the road. Keep in mind though that I had a higher clearance vehicle and 4-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive. This last trip would be no different.

The day was overcast with cloud cover that we figured would not allow us much of a view, but we had this trip planned for quite some time and we were not going to bail. We were looking forward to the extended butt-sliding event that we would take part in even more than the amazing views. Yes, Seymour is the home of one of the best butt-slides in the Adirondacks – right up there with Allen.

This would be a ski mountaineering tour day, and we also want to give our new-ish skis another run but on something a bit more aggressive. With our snowshoes strapped to our packs we were off. The snow was in stellar condition and we were the first on the trail for the day. It had snowed about 3 inches the night before so we had a bit of powder on a well packed trail, great for trail skiing.

Skiing to the Ward Brook Truck Trail

As we crested the first hill we bypassed the horse trail and started our ski along the much narrower trail. It wasn’t long before we passed through the big pines and hit our first downhill segment that passed us out and over a summer wet area, which was so much easier in its frozen state. Pressing on we met up with another descent that made us both a bit nervous. This descent was to be on a very narrow hillside section with exposed boulder in the middle and at the base – no sir! We unsnapped our snowshoes and walked the hill. In order for us to get through the exposed boulder we would have had to do the “Adirondack Shuffle” and ski on one foot at times just to switch to the next, if you can picture that in your mind, you can see why we walked. We didn’t put on our skis until after we crossed the outlet and got atop the bank on the other side. From here the going was a bit slow with multiple scattered exposed boulders to get around and avoid, but at least it was mostly flat. Getting there was a constant but slight uphill.

Not much slowed us down once we hit the Truck Trail. We were now on a wide track and quickly we found ourselves passing by the herd path up Seward and then at the Seymour herd path. We didn’t want to take off our skis yet so we tried to ski the herd path, we didn’t get very far. The path was not only narrow but the turns throughout were too tight to make the skiing enjoyable or even remotely easy – and it was flat. Two times on my back was all it took for me to take them off and trade them for the snowshoes. Once we got the snowshoes on we lashed the skis to a tree about 100 feet from the trail for safe keeping and off we went. The climb actual started pretty quickly from that point, so come to find out we wouldn’t have skied much further anyhow.

Snowshoeing Seymour

Funny face on the way up Seymour
Funny face on the way up Seymour

The climb was actually very uneventful with not much more to say other than it was one foot in front of the other, over and over again. Sometimes we felt as though it was one step forward and three back, but mostly we just climbed. We didn’t see a soul until we neared the first viewing area just below the summit. It was two guys from Montreal, that not only had strong accents but they also had the full line up of Mountain Hardwear and Arc’teryx on. They looked like walking billboards for an outdoor gear shop, but they were also pretty good on their feet as they glissaded past us.

Krummholz – a definition

Santanoni's in view over the
Santanoni's in view over the
L-R: Emmons, Donaldson, Seward as see from the first view
L-R: Emmons, Donaldson, Seward as see from the first view

We took in the views from the first rocky shelf before we went back into the trees to top out on the wooded summit. However, just past the summit there is another outstanding view out over the stubby Krummholz. This is the German word for Crooked wood, the American definition is: “thick black spruce that doesn’t budge when you walk into or through it and causes massive amounts of swearing and very deep spruce traps to capture unlucky souls in the depth of winter and trap them like unwilling subjects in a torture film.”

Butt-sliding Seymour

Now it was time to retreat and enjoy the butt-slide we were so looking forward too. The first was a very short one right off the summit. The next would be the winner. We would butt-slide for over a quarter of a mile under different degrees of speed and control. But it would nearly be a continuous descent on our rear-ends. A couple occasions brought us upon hard turns which not even an Indy car driver could pull through. In those cases we would usually find ourselves buried about waist deep in powder and trying to wiggle our way out as the other either watched, laughed, took photos, or continued down the mountain. We quickly found ourselves on the trail where sliding was no longer an option and we had to accept the fact we would have to walk back to our skis. Arriving back at our skis we switched out from snowshoes and got a snack only to find out I had lost my water bottle and water bottle parka someplace along the descent. It was probably imbedded in the side of that yellow birch tree that I slammed into, but who knows, we only knew that someone would soon have a nearly brand new bottle and sleeve! Lucky for us we always bring way too much water. The ski out was a blast, not only was it significantly faster but we could enjoy the trail like we had never done before. Even the downhill sections were not as threatening as we had anticipated on the way in.

So does this make you interested in ski mountaineering the Seward Range? Check out what local guide services have to offer and head out. Need more information on the peaks, check out our 46 High Peaks page for more details.