Mount Colden

Mount Colden is one of the Adirondacks’ 46 High Peaks, rising 4,714 feet above Avalanche Lake and Lake Colden with a bare alpine summit above the treeline. Named in the 1830s for David C. Colden after a brief failed renaming to Mount McMartin, it also carried the Mohawk name Ou-no-war-lah, “scalp mountain.” The peak is especially notable for the Trap Dike, a deep crevice on its west face shaped by erosion and landslides and distinguished by unusual rock and garnet deposits. Its maintained trails and the unmaintained Class 4 Trap Dike route have made it both a celebrated climb and a frequent site of rescues.

Keene, New York · United States