Each year, over the Martin Luther King (MLK) holiday weekend in January, the club offers a weekend of ice climbing, back-country skiing, and snowshoeing in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York.. Down hill skiing is also possible at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid.

For the last few years, we have booked accommodation at the Rock and River lodge located near Keene, New York. The lodge is at the start of the famous Jack Rabbit Ski Trail and is close to the ice climbing areas of the Keene Valley/Chapel Pond, Cascade Pass and the North Face of Pitchoff.

You’ll need to come with climbing or skiing partners or be prepared to utilize guiding/instruction services. Shared transport etc will be arranged closer to the event.

Registration Process

Beds are first come-first serve and registration will be opening Sep 1 2026, 3 1/2 months before the MLK weekend.

Before registering, please make sure that you are 99% able to participate in the weekend. In previous years the frequent cancelling of registrations has created considerable extra work for the trip leaders because this often requires rearranging bed assignments.

For 2027, there have been some changes to the process.

Firstly, Rock and River has asked that we reduce the number of beds being offered. We have set this at 25 – it was formerly 28.

Secondly, we are no longer sharing the Queen beds in the Stoddard, Colvin and Weissner rooms, which also have single beds.

The Queen beds in the Phelps, Cheney, Nye and Goodwin rooms are for two people each and these are intended to be couples or friends. To ensure this, you may want to coordinate renting a Queen bed with a partner or friend when reservations open.

If you’d like your own Queen bed, choose one in the Stoddard, Colvin or Weissner rooms if available. Or rent both halves in one of Phelps, Cheney, Nye and Goodwin.

And if you’re by yourself, please choose one of the single beds

If you rent a spot and need to cancel, you will need to find someone to transfer your spot to.

The booking covers Friday evening – Monday morning of the MLK weekend.

There will be a waitlist once all the spots are taken. If you cancel, your spot will be offered to the first person on the waitlist. If they accept, you will need to arrange reimbursement from your replacement – we can tell you whom that is.  If there’s no one left on the waitlist – and you can’t find a replacement – you will still be responsible for the cost – unfortunately we cannot offer refunds for this event. 

The price of accommodation is typically around $200 for the three nights and you will be sent an invoice for this once registration is complete.

Rock and River Details

Check out the Rock and River website for more information about the venue. In addition to a variety of rooms to choose from, there are two kitchens for those who have sufficient post-climbing or post-skiing energy to cook. Or you can utilize a variety of restaurants, mostly in Lake Placid a few miles away.

Photos and testimonials from previous club trips:

“Rock and River was a fantastic place to stay and the club should book both lodges for MLK next year again. It turned out the ice climbing was great and people also enjoyed the skiing and hiking, and of course both the guide’s house and the climber’s lodge are perfect bases for a winter ADK weekend.”