Adirondacks vs Appalachians

I knew a letter like this would come Some Day

Of Course AOL Deleted it prematurely and I never got to E-mail my response, So If you wrote this E-mail me here is the Response. Please Email me to let me know you read it. I know you probably think I Wimped out by not E-mailing you back.

Email :

Although I found your site both entertaining and informative, your comparison of the Adirondacks and Appalachians is thoroughly biased and grossly misleading. Spanning some 2200 miles, I find it exceedingly difficult to come to the conclusion as you did that these mountains are "all the same". The White Mountains of New Hampshire alone have several distinct ridges, each with different features and unique elements. They surpass the 'dacks nearly all of your categories for superlatives. Adams, for instance, has the highest el. gain +4,500 ft, east of the Rockies: a fact you conveniently omit. No cliffs? What about Cannon? Webster? or Eagle cliffs? No slides you say? I counted a dozen on Lafayette and Lincoln over Memorial Day weekend. I could go on ... but ... I understand the desire to highlight the Adirondacks' uniqueness. We all have places near and dear to us that we feel sometimes don't garner the respect they deserve. Nonetheless, to be best appreciated, the dack's need to be viewed in their proper context. Skewing the facts to further your aims is not the way to proceed. The stats are impressive enough as is. Only the ignorant would scoff at the facts.

My Response:

Never said The Appalachians suck, There are many beautiful places in the Apps.

There are 2 reasons I did this page.

1) was to educate people of the uniqueness of the Adirondacks. Most people do believe that the Adirondacks are part of the Apps. I find it amazing that we have this area here that isn't related to anything else around. The Adirondacks are more related to the Mountains of Scotland and the Apps to Ural mts of Russia then they are to each other.

2) To counter 2 other web sites The State Highpointers and The Mountain explorer site

The mountain explorer site doesn't even separate the Adirondacks and The Apps. and lumps them in with the Veiwless Southern Apps.

The Highpointer site

Calls Katahdin in Maine "Everyone's favorite East Coast Mountain". Of course I say Everyone who has never been to the dacks

On What you Said

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

your comparison

of the Adirondacks and Appalachians is thoroughly biased and grossly

misleading.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I put there are Fossils in the Apps but not the Dacks

And I didn't take any "shots" at those Wilderness Experience killers, those hotels in the sky the Appalachian Huts---yet

And for some reason I put that the ugliest Man made object on Mt. Marcy was the Ski Jumps. I have gotten letters complaining about this. The Ski jumps are 10 miles away not on the summit like mitchell. If you didn't know before hand that they were there, the odds are you wouldn't even notice them. Can't miss the lookout tower on Mitchell.

So I wasn't that biased

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

No cliffs? What about Cannon? Webster? or Eagle cliffs?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Those you mentioned do not have 1000 foot vertical cliffs. Vertical means Vertical. While yes if you climb them you will climb over 1000 feet and yes you will climb very steeply and might even need technical skills on some parts, but some or most of the way you are not climbing vertically. I could have added at least a dozen more Adirondack "walls" that fit into that category (i.e. The trap Dyke on Mt. Colden.. 1,936'). Look at a picture of Cannon you will see what I mean.

I did spend a lot of time researching this. There are dozens of Rock Climbing sites on the web and I went through them all, for some reason not one site out there has any Rockface heights listed. I finally went to the library and looked at the Climbing in the White Mountains book and did not find any cliffs above 1000 feet.

Actually I was nice enough to put Seneca Rocks down. I still haven't confirmed if it's truly vertical and technically it not part of the Apps but The Allegenys.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Spanning some 2200 miles, I find it exceedingly difficult to come

to the conclusion as you did that these mountains are "all the same". <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

While I am not saying that each Mountain doesn't have it's own distinct features. As general Shape goes all apps are the same. They all have large Bases and all have the classic mound shape, while most Adirondack Mountains have there own distinct shape. Some have small bases and shoot straight up, some are really thin and have long ridges, some are Homoclines, some even look totally different from different sides that you wouldn't think you are looking at the same Mt. and some just defy description. I stand by this but to be more politically correct I will change it to "Basically the Same"

<<<<<<<<<<<<No slides you say? I counted a dozen on Lafayette and Lincoln over Memorial Day weekend.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There are no True Slides in the Apps. There could be difference in terminology here. Slides in the Adirondacks are formed during heavy rains or an Earthquake. The Soil in the Dacks is very thin and it sits on top of smooth Bedrock, during heavy rains it becomes saturated and it causes the Earth, rocks, and trees to "Slide" down the mountain, leaving behind a whistle clean smooth surface sometimes miles long. Most slides while long are usually less then 100 feet wide. Most Slides do not goto the summit. I base this on Geology, The of Soil Depth of the Apps. is very thick (which also means trees hold the soil better) which makes saturation of the soil of this magnitude is very unlikely.

Plus the catagory was Slide formation, not slides

>>>>>>>>>>> They surpass the 'dacks nearly all of

your categories for superlatives. Adams, for instance, has the highest el.gain +4,500 ft, east of the Rockies: a fact you conveniently omit. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Actually if you checked a month ago I had Adams at a 5000 foot elevation gain. But that was a total ascent over Madison not a Vertical Drop so I took it off. The map I have of Adams (metric) the base elevation is unclear so it is unconfirmed at the moment. I will put it immediately when I can find it.

As for the other superlatives, Confirmed Raven beats Catallac, Whiteface beats Mansfield. So far for the steepest mile for a trail or path in the Apps. I find Katahdin @ 1437', Macomb @ 1800' will beat this (actually Seymour in the dacks may have an over 2000' foot rise in a mile).

It is uneconomical and unpractical for me to buy every map of the Apps. The only way I can get info is to sneak at peak at some App Book at an outdoor shop. I posted request on every App. message board and still haven't got a response. (You can still find my back dated post on the Appalachian trail Message Board). I also E-mailed many personal and non-profit organization App. web pages (including White Mountain Sites) asking for information and rudely they have never e-mailed me back. (The only E-mail I ever got back was from a nice ranger with stats on Mt. Mitchell).

So it's not conveince, it's the fact I was Ignored..

When I get more stats, I will post them, no matter what the result.

Anyhow I am Glad you enjoyed at least most of my Site.

Can't wait to I get a letter from someone out west complaining about my Adirondacks vs The Wild West page