The last climb from the Castle to the true summit — up the stone Stairway Ridge (or the elevator in the mountain) into one of the only alpine zones in the eastern U.S.
You're making the final climb to the summit now, up the last rocky spine of the mountain — and whether you're taking the stone stairway on foot or riding that elevator up through solid rock, you're leaving the ordinary world behind you.
Watch what happens to the trees. Down at the Castle they were already stunted — little spruce and fir, wind-bent and tough. Up here they shrink to a knee-high, gnarled, wind-flattened tangle; there's an old word for it, krummholz, German for 'crooked wood.' And then, in a few more steps, they give out altogether — because you are climbing up out of the forest entirely, into one of the only true alpine zones in the whole eastern United States. A place too cold, too wind-scoured, too harsh for any tree to stand. The ground goes to bare rock and low, hardy little arctic plants.
Take the steps slow and steady if you're walking them — the rock can be slick, and the wind up here can genuinely shove you sideways. Keep back from the edges; the drops are real and there are no railings out on the natural rock. Almost there now. The roof of New York State is just above your head.
Photo: Tony Fischer · CC BY 2.0
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