Catskill 3500

The Catskill 3500

The Catskill 3500 Club, founded in 1962, requires climbing every Catskill summit over 3,500 feet — and then four of them again in winter: Slide, Blackhead, Balsam, and Panther, between December 21 and March 21. For decades the list was 35 peaks. In 2021 the club dropped Graham and Doubletop, both on private land whose owner closed access, so the current required list is 33.

What makes the Catskills distinctive is how many have no trail. Seventeen of the 33 are bushwhacks, and the club's canister system — a sign-in register on the summit of each trailless peak — is the only way to prove you were there. Slide Mountain at 4,180 feet is the highest and a straightforward trail walk; Hunter has a fire tower; the Devil's Path across Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf, Plateau, and Hunter is often called the hardest day hike in the East. Then there's Rocky, Lone, Friday, and Balsam Cap in the Slide Wilderness, a tangle of blowdown and spruce that takes a full day and a compass.

Using this map

Peaks are grouped by area and each badge notes whether it's a winter re-ascent peak or a bushwhack, so you can see at a glance what's left of the hard stuff. Click a badge or its pin to mark a summit, again for want-to-climb. Two hours north, the Adirondack 46 is the bigger list; the Catskills are where a lot of New York hikers learn to bushwhack before trying it.

What the Catskills teach you

The trailless Catskill peaks are the best bushwhacking classroom in the East. The terrain is forgiving — no cliffs to speak of, dense spruce rather than open rock — and the canisters on the summits give you a definite target. Learn to follow a bearing through a balsam thicket on Rocky or Lone and the Adirondack herd paths feel like highways afterwards. Winter adds a second dimension: the club's four required winter ascents are deliberately chosen to include a long one (Slide), a steep one (Blackhead), a remote one (Panther), and a short one (Balsam), so you can't game them.