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Andy D. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 209 | TRs | Pics Location: Bow, WA |
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Andy D.
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Sat Apr 22, 2017 2:53 pm
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Took advantage of the nice weather yesterday to get up Eightmile Mountain. I started 4pm Thursday from where Rd #7601 is gated at Bridge Creek CG. Road is snow-free for 2 miles, then patchy to the Eightmile Lake trailhead. Trail is snow-free for a bit, then snowshoes came out. A thin breakable crust and sloppy wet slush made for slow going and frequent postholing. I wasn't too optimistic about making a summit! Took 3 hrs under overcast skies and light drizzle to Eightmile Lake where I camped.
Friday I awoke to a gorgeous day and headed out at 7am on snow that had thankfully hardened up a bit overnight. I had no route info with but decided the east face was probably no good with this soft snow (good call). Instead I traversed west above the lake to the southern slopes and found a steep avy gully that took me all the way up to the upper east ridge. I switched from snowshoes to boots & 'pons about halfway up. I was pleasantly surprised to find the upper ridge nice & firm with no difficulties to the summit. Arrived at the spacious summit plateau at 10:15, enjoyed the views but didn't linger as the snow was already softening considerably.
I was able to glissade most of the way down until it was too soft. I donned snowshoes for a wallow-fest down to the valley floor where it was smooth sailing back to camp (12:30) and back out to the car (3:30pm). Awesome day in the hills! ~16mi RT (no GPS)
track up east ridge Eightmile summit Eightmile Lake Eightmile Lake & Axis Peak approx route
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
Nice job getting a somewhat tricky peak, especially this early!
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gb Member
Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 6303 | TRs | Pics
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gb
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Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:59 pm
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The amount of snow looks phenomenal for Enchantment area peaks.
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wildernessed viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics Location: Wenatchee |
Nice photos that is a good trip !
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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Excellent! I bet you had the whole place to yourself, and I bet it was awesome! Sure looks that way. I must say I'm jealous!
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:00 pm
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Great looking trip.
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jbaillie Member
Joined: 20 Oct 2011 Posts: 63 | TRs | Pics
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jbaillie
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Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:06 pm
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Amazed at how much snow, even on the ridge crest.
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Justus S. Member
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 1298 | TRs | Pics Location: WA |
looks nice.
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