Park at the Garden near Keene Valley (get there early - the parking lot fills up, even in winter. The shuttle does not run in the winter. The next-nearest parking is a long ways away).

Follow the Phelps trail past John's Brook lodge (1.5 hours) and continue up hill to Slant rock (3.5 hours from the Garden - a pleasant hike). There's a lean-to here that offers the last legal camping spot before the Gorge (camping above 3500' outside of designated areas is not allowed in the High Peaks). Bivy gear can be dumped here. The lean-to has a great view and gets southern sun most of the day.

Follow the trail an additional 45 minutes to the Marcy-Haystack col. Continue up the Marcy trail about 200 feet, then break off the trail ( GPS: 44.116116 north, -73.905566 west = WGS84 UTM 18T 587574 4885351 ) South bushwacking into Panther Gorge. It's easiest to contour down and south to the drainage, then contour up hill (west) to the Panther Den rock that becomes visible on the right hand side (20 minutes of solid bushwacking from the col).

The cliffs can be followed (going into the bush occasionally) south from Panther Den past Feline wall and eventually reaching Agharta wall (another 20 minutes from Panther Den).

See the description of the gorge, and great overview photos by Kevin MacKenzie in the rock climbing section of Mountain Project: mountainproject.com/v/panth… Adironacks .

Most parties choose to use snowshoes and/or microspikes for the approach. The narrow/steep/wooded trail and bushwack means that using skis for the approach would add to the overall adventure/excitement of climbing in the gorge. Parties climbing multiple days in the gorge may want to cache their ropes and hardware in the gorge for a light and easy hike back to the lean-to.