PHOTOS: Into the Chasm
New York’s Grandest Canyon best served cold.
Issue 2: Winter/Spring 2014
Into the Chasm
Photos by Jonathan SchmittStory by James Heffron
On the Adirondack Coast, a few days separate two opposing worlds. Jeans and jackets replace shorts and tees.
Leaves drift from branches, and boats are pulled from Lake Champlain. Snow finds its way from the peak of Mount
Marcy to the deepest crevasse below the boreal pines. Ausable Chasm is that crevasse; an astonishing, two-mile
gash in the North Country’s crust.Families have been visiting Ausable Chasm since 1870, making the gorge America’s
oldest natural attraction. For over 100 years, thousands of visitors have slithered through the chasm all summer until
winter called the end of another season.
visit Ausable Chasm, but the most recent, and maybe the most spectacular option is through the new guided winter
adventures.The tour begins directly from the Welcome Center, which rests just off of Route 9 in Keeseville, N.Y.
Guests first walk a short distance to the famous Rainbow Falls. Water and ice compete to cover the sandstone beneath
them. Two minutes northwest is the Elephant’s Head, a rock-outcrop that does justice to its name. The mighty head
supports the forest above it as the trunk dips toward the frigid river. The winter is the best time to recognize the beast;
extruding ice forms a well-positioned tusk to complement an already-stirring imagination.
The view peaks toward the bend where the two-mile split starts. That’s where the real adventure awaits. Across
the Route 9 Bridge, recreation manager, and chasm-guide Chuck Fries tends a fire to warm and welcome his guests.
Fries tosses a final log atop the blaze as his guests fiddle with their snow cleats. The hike begins, and the chirp of the
elastic metal shoes grabbing snow becomes white noise as the upper rim reveals what rests behind the pines. Lookouts
provide bird’s eye views of Potsdam sandstone that towers over rushing water. Nearby, stairs reach down to the snow-
topped walkways and bridges that make up the chasm’s “Classic Tour.”
directing the focus of his followers from one direction to another, the logs 40 feet above their heads, to the
rumbling rock deep beneath the river’s surface. In other areas, the chasm speaks for itself, thrashing water and
crumbling ice creating a hoarse voice. Curiosity distracts visitors from winter’s bite.The pace up the final staircase
is a fraction of what it had been minutes before. Some guests slow because their legs are tired but most slow to
capture one final glimpse, one final memory.
