[raising3hikers]

Long Mtn 5113'

On Saturday, Dave, Fletcher and I met in Granite Falls for a trip up the mountain loop highway to Long Mtn.  We were looking for the Marten Creek TH and passed it.  It was tough to see with all the snow on the side of the roads.  We eventually found it and started up the trail on snowshoes.  A couple of down trees to start out with but not too much afterwards.  As we got a little higher above the valley, the snow thinned out and we took the snowshoes off for a little ways.  We followed the trail ~1.8-1.9 miles to where there was the 2nd open area to the East.  We got good info from the summit post page and Matt's TR.

With snowshoes back on, we turned on our beacons and started up the steep slopes staying in the forest for the better snow.  After heading straight up for several hundred feet, we angled climbers left to avoid the steepening terrain.  We traversed over to a broad gully with good enough snow to stay on top.  Although, Dave seemed to punch through in a few spots to make it more of a challenge.  We reached the basin at 4400' to our first view of the summit.  A steep snow climb looked like the way to get there.  On the way to the narrowing and steepening gully, we switched to crampons on the very firm snow.

The views back to Three Fingers and Whitehorse were pretty nice on this rare, sunny weekend winter day.  Good ax and foot placements were needed to gain the rock ridge just below the summit.  The ridge was mostly clear of snow, so we dropped gear and scrambled up to the top.  More nice views in all directions were had.  We chose to stay a while in hopes that the slopes would soften a bit to make downclimbing a little easier.

Three Fingers and Whitehorse

Fletcher climbing the narrow ridge

looking down at the slopes we came up

last bit of steep snow for Dave

Big Four Mtn

The snow was still pretty firm on our downclimbing but we had some really good steps.  At the end of the basin, we put snowshoes back on for the descent back down to the trail.  Lower, the snow was a little sloppier but not too bad.  At the trail, it was a quick trip back down to the car.  There were even a couple other hikers out on the trail, good to see people enjoying the snow.

It was a fun, short and steep trip with great views.  Definitely need safe avy conditions to try this one

5.25 miles
3700' elevation gain

[Fletcher]

A fun, steep route! And a few waste deep postholes in snowshoes. Good times!

[puzzlr]

Thanks for the refreshing TR about a real climb in the midst of this dark and snowy winter. I'm glad you found good conditions and stayed safe.

[Nancyann]

I like how your pictures of Fletcher and Dave give a good perspective of how challenging the terrain was.

[Schroder]

This brings back memories for me. I went up Long Mountain many times in the Spring and we always started off the highway near Silverton and directly up a large gully just east of the summit. On one climb we had really rotten snow and decide to attempt getting down to the Marten Creek trail off the North side - we never heard of anyone going this direction so we weren't sure if it would go. It turned out to be a lot more pleasant than our approach.

[Stefan]

memories for me too!!

[Jimbo]

Great TR, just got hip replacement. That trail i will be up looking this summer. Great pics

[Redwic]

Great TR and peak!
I would like to find a team to do this, this Winter or Spring.

[Chief Joseph]

So the upper Bonanza Queen mine is on the north side of Long mountain, might try the Marten creek approach late spring or summer.

[Schroder]

[Sky Hiker]

that's a long mtn for sure