There are three hiking trails that reach the summit of the state’s fifth highest mountain, with one coming to the summit from the southeast and two others coming in from the northeast. Those two trails, which start at the Wilmington reservoir or SUNY Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, join up near the summit of Marble Mountain.

From the junction of those two trails, one path leads hikers and snowshoers to the 4,865-foot summit.

Less than a mile from the summit, the trail butts up against the Veterans’ Memorial Highway which goes up the northwest side of the mountain. There is a high stone retaining wall and it is this point, where the trail closely parallels the road, that has been rerouted.

“A small section of the Whiteface Mountain Trail just above the junction with the Whiteface Highway (Wilmington Turn) has been rerouted to avoid the hazard created by variable ice conditions and the ‘rock cut’ of the highway,” the DEC said in the backcountry conditions report.

Last winter, two hikers in separate incidents suffered serious injuries near this spot. Both of those hikers required evacuation by DEC forest rangers.

To read the weekly conditions report, go to www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7865.html.