Cornell Mountain

Cornell Mountain is one of the Catskill 3500 high peaks and is part of the Burroughs Range in the Slide Mountain Wilderness of the Catskills in New York State. At 3,860 ft. elevation, it is one of the tallest peaks in the area.

Popular Routes

Cornell is almost never hiked alone, as trailed access to the peak requires traversing over another mountain, which most commonly ends up being Wittenberg via the Wittenberg Cornell Slide Trail starting at the Woodland Valley Campground. This route is an out and back that covers 8.5 miles and over 3,000 ft. of elevation gain, and is known as one of the harder high peaks hikes. Another common route to hike Cornell would be to do it in combination with Wittenberg and Slide via an out and back, or as a traverse. No matter how it's done this route is significantly longer and more challenging than only doing Cornell and Wittenberg together. For an even greater challenge, Cornell is a part of the route known as the Catskill 9 which involves bagging nine of the high peaks in the Slide Mountain Wilderness including Table, Peekamoose, Lone, Rocky, Friday, Balsam Cap, Slide, Cornell, and Wittenberg all in a single hike.

The Cornell Crack

The Cornell crack is the name for section of the trail in which the hiker will need to ascend or descend via a crack in a large boulder near the summit of Cornell Mountain. It is on the south side of the mountain, so it is not travelled when only hiking Cornell and Wittenberg from Woodland Valley. When doing Cornell in combination with Slide, it will need to be tackled. Some hikers opt to bring a rope to help with this steep section of trail, making sure to take the rope with them when they leave. In winter this section can be icy and especially difficult to tackle, requiring either snowshoes, micro spikes, and/or crampons to safely navigate.

Summit and Views

The views at Cornell are decent, with a somewhat rocky area offering a slight view looking down the Escarpment at the Ashokan Reservoir and Hudson River beyond. The views are dwarfed by nearby Wittenberg and so are not often talked about in reference to great views in the area.

Water

There is no water at the summit of Cornell. The closest water would be either on the other side of Wittenberg, along the Mount Pleasant Romer Mountain Trail, or at the base of the mountain near the Woodland Valley Campground. To the south, some water may be found along the ridge of the Burroughs Range in the col between Slide Mountain. There is a reasonably reliable spring towards the summit of Slide on the Western face. Hikers should plan accordingly and bring extra water when attempting to summit.

Camping

Paid camping is available near the trailhead at the Woodland Valley Campground. There are also designated official campsites in the col between Slide and Cornell. Most camping near the summit of Cornell would be illegal except for winter, which is the only time that camping above 3,500 ft. elevation is allowed in the Catskills. Further, camping is not allowed within 150 ft. of a trail, water source, or lean-to, and so getting that far from a trail could prove difficult at best, and dangerous at worst. There would not be much flat ground to speak of outside of the designated sites, and so sticking to those is the best option when attempting to camp nearby.