Climbing through Black Fly season in the Adirondacks?

This is going to be my first summer heading to the Adirondacks (I'm pumped), but I understand the black flies are awful about now. Some of my friends were at Sugarloaf by Indian Lake two weekends ago, and they said they got eaten alive, but that same weekend some of my other buddies were at Wallface in the High Peaks and were fine.

I'd love some advice about venturing out and climbing during black fly season. Are some cliffs more clear than others? Is deet and long sleeves and pants enough to ward the flies off? Has anyone had experience climbing with these guys around?

I appreciate any help! I don't think I could wait until the end of June when the black flies are gone.

I recall there being a list in the back of the new ADK Rock guide that has the less buggy spots. There's some places that treat for black flies, so there will be fewer there in general (NOTE: not black fly free, just fewer). Chapel Pond area is one of them.

Deet works if you can tolerate it. Headnet helps on the WORSE days, maybe once a year I feel I need one. Dark clothing and longer sleeves certainly help as well. The treated clothing doesn't really seem to fully repel them, at least in our limited testing. It helps though.

Right now the further north you go the fewer black flies there will be (due to colder temps lasting longer/delaying their hatching).

Windy days or breezy spots (due to local geography) are best, there will be almost no flies in a stiff breeze. Calm days they will be atrocious.

I do avoid some places when the flies are at their worse, like Crane Mt in late May through early July. I heard Silver Lake is also notoriously bad, but haven't ventured out there yet to witness it first hand.

No magic really--it is mostly about location, conditions and some luck. A heavily wooded crag in a sheltered location will be worse than an open crag high up, out of the trees with little brush. A breezy, cool day (or crag) will be much better than a still one. Wallface, especially around the base, can be awful. My guess is that last week, since it is high up, the flies 'hatch' up there may well be later than at Sugarloaf. Also I would expect that there was a good breeze on Wallface the day your friends were there.

Long sleeves and pants, good repellent, and head nets all help, but the flies can still be very annoying even with full protection. Finally it seems that the flies are more attracted to some folks than others. I'm sure there's a scientific explanation, but you can always hope that you are one of the 'lucky ones'. Enjoy the ADKs--they're wonderful even with the flies.

Alan

Al, the flies actually get blown to the top of the mountains, so that's why it takes a while for them to collect there (or so I've been told).

I disagree, it is truly amazing how well black flies can follow you up a multipitch even with a light breeze.

I had a horrendous swarm follow me all the way up Vertigo on Cannon once, I thought they'd abandon their task after a few hundred feet, but no.

I have a whole stack of these adhesive fly trap thingys that are meant for black flies. I assume they are baited, and you pin them to your hat or shirt, at the end of the day you have a whole collection of black flies that didn't bite you. I grew up near the dacks but living in the west I haven't much use for them if you want to cover postage and handling I will send them your way.

I find that a headnet, gloves, long sleeve shirt, pants and socks help a bunch with the flies. Bug spray helps too. No bright colors either

I try to stick to places I know don't have many flies. We went to Crane Mountain about four days last June and May. The flies and bugs were bad almost everywhere. Chapel Pond and Pitchoff had much less but it's popular so..

Thanks everyone for the quick responses and great info!

Vertical, do the sticky pads really work? What do they do, they divert the black flies from biting you and then trap them?

Yep that's the idea. I haven't actually used them but I've been told they work pretty well as long as you don't mind a bunch of dead bugs attached to you.

As Al mentioned, they do tend to have an affinity for certain people (at least when you encounter them in moderate numbers). I'm one of the unlucky ones :(

My method for thwarting flies is this:

Long pants, thick high cut socks (can't bite through them), long sleeve Rab Boreas wind shirt (I swear they should market this shirt as "anti-black fly"!-- has a tight enough weave that flies can't bite though it, but light enough that even in the heat of summer, it's not terrible to wear. Also works great as sun protection.), hood up on the wind shirt, head-net over it, belay gloves. Tuck everything into everything.

= essentially hermetically sealed to the flies.

I've worn this on the worst of days and even being the flies "favorite" kind of person, I've walked away with zero bites. I have been desperate enough to climb in a head-net, but to each their own.

There are definitely cliffs that are worse than others. The handful of times I've been to Lost T have been exceptionally bad, maybe some of the worst, although I might have just totally nailed it and been there immediately after a hatch. Anywhere from Chapel Pond to Pitchoff tends to be far less buggy since the surrounding streams are treated for black fly control for Keene & Keene Valley.

I'm not sure of the biology of it, but there is definitely a correlation to elevation and bug numbers. They come out later up higher (probably explains your friends' luck at Wallface) but die sooner down low (they can't tolerate high temperatures and die of dehydration).

Luckily the snow we got on Sunday-Monday killed some of them off. I was out this afternoon and there were essentially zero bugs.

... Just wait for the next hatch!

White Mountain Insect Repellent. You can order it online. It's expensive but it works wonders. You'll still get swarmed but they won't bite. And it's all natural!

eat a lot of garlic.

long pants, long sleaved cotton dress shirt. bug net for head while belaying, bug dope.

Nick Goldsmith wrote: bug dope.

...not too sure about "gone at the end of June"....I don't think they are ever gone until the first cold nights. Black flies breed in aerated, moving water so if it's a wet spring and summer they can last well into July and August. A dry year and they are pretty moderate by mid-to-end of July.
...of course, then there are the "no-see-ums"

As for altitude, I am 100% convinced the "hatch" moves up-mountain just like the trees leafing out. Nothing scientific to back that belief, just years of Adks and White Mtns experience that if you go "high" (in altitude, that is) in early May there's no black flies, even when they are swarming 1000 ft lower.

Good Luck and enjoy the Adks, they are a special place.

ps- I use DEET, but I don't believe you can buy the 100% stuff in NY State (try Vt or NH) Back in the days when women wore nylon stockings, complaints were that DEET dissolved them. I don't whether that's a fact, but it's probably best to not get the stuff on ropes, slings, etc.

Yeah, I once slathered deet on my helmet thinking I thought of a clever way to keep black flies off my face/head, and the petzl helmet partially dissolved.

Re: the bug strips that go on the back of your head, I thought those were for deer flies, which IIRC are the flies that love to land right on the back of your head. When I hiked the cranberry 50, the wife and I caught hundreds and hundreds of deer flies by putting those strips on the back of our hats.