Mt. Colden via the East Slide

Parking here is $10 per day. Head on down the most traveled trail towards Marcy Dam after signing into the register

The trail to your left heads off and up towards Algonquin. Ignore this trail and continue on.

There are a lot of campsites in this area if you'd like to make this a two day hike. Make sure to use bear canisters as black bears frequent the area. From here you want to head out on the trail towards Avalanche Pass which you will leave before you actually reach Avalanche Pass.

From here depart from the Avalanche Pass trail and head uphill towards Lake Arnold on the east side of Mt. Colden.

To your left a trail will head off up the hill towards Indian Falls. Ignore this trail for now but on the way back if you want to explore this route down to see a waterfall on the trail you can check it out. If you do go this way back to the car you will end up on the Phelps trail back towards Marcy Dam.

When you reach Lake Arnold you'll see the trail heading up Colden. This will be the trail you will descend Colden on. Ignore this trail for now and continue on around the lake. Soon you will be at the base of the slide.

There are no real guidelines here to follow as you ascend the slide. At the base you will be scrambling over the debris that slid down the mountain in 1990. When I say debris I mean house size boulders and piles of trees. You'll be scrambling over this or through the trees around this following the slide for about a mile or so until you reach the scraped bedrock higher up on the mountain. From that point on your calves are going to scream as you ascend the slide. Near the top you will have to make your way through some thick brush for just a short ways until you are at the summit. My advice is to follow the side of the slide for safety and in the winter you will definitely need to have crampons, an ice axe and EXPERIENCE before attempting this. The pictures here are from my winter ascent of this slide. The one of the climber is onthe way to the slide debris at the base when he fell in a hole. The others are a progression of the climb. As you can see it is steep! I've added captions so you know what you are looking at.

At 4,715 feet you are at the summit of Mt. Colden with spectacular 360 degree views all around. Across Avalanche Lake is the McIntyre Range and behind is Mt. Marcy and the Great Range in the distance. Take some time to relax up at the top if it is a nice day and get plenty of pictures. Try to snap a few in order of the MacIntyre Range to make a cool panorama when you get home. From here you will be heading down the trail to the north that will bring you over a smaller false summit of Colden and then down to Lake Arnold where you will follow your same trail back.