[Sadie's Driver]

Destination - Granite Mtn. Lookout

We thought this is where we were headed today. Not so fast! Got to the trailhead by 8:30 a.m. - on the trail quickly. Only 5 cars in the parking lot. Snow started about 2 miles into the hike and was pretty slick at that hour and deep enough to slow us down. Trail Pair had yak-traks so put them on and had no problem forging ahead. Hiker Jim and I plodded along. Sadie, of course, had no difficulty - 4-paw drive has its advantages. All was fine, until the route up the summer trail ended at about mile 3 and by all appearances the route headed straight up the south slope. It looked like at least one set of boot prints. However, it wasn't long before the prints became very shallow - and the "snow" became very hard and icy. Kick stepping was slow and the slope was steep. The wind was howling - but at least there was no rain or snow and it was clear. Unfortunately, none of us had an ice ax (or crampons) - HJ brought his ice ax, but since none of the rest of us had one, he decided to leave it at the car. The next 1/4 mile was brutal. Very cold and hard to make much progress. HJ ended up taking on the duty of kick stepping so we would have a decent route down. When we finally reached the ridge and a flat spot where we could get out of the wicked wind, we reassessed our destination.

Hiker Jim and Sadie about 700' below lookout

We could see a couple of folks coming down from the lookout - and one guy who followed our tracks passed us with no more than cross-trainer shoes - no pack, no water, nothing. He went on up towards the summit. HJ was pooped from all of the effort. After a quick bite, we decided to turnaround and head down. We were worried about how well our kick steps would hold. So we headed down about 700' below the lookout. We probably would have been just fine, because there were lots of people heading up in our steps and deepening them. Plus, a little lower and out of the stiff wind, the snow was actually softening with the warming weather.

Oh boy, oh boy - snow, friends, a hike - the best!

Back at the car by 1:00 p.m. So, HJ, Sadie and I parted ways with Trail Pair and we headed over to the Lake Annette trailhead. HJ wanted to see the damage done to the bridge across Humpback Creek - it was pretty significant - but still doable. We continued on up to the railroad grade to add another couple of miles to our day. There was very little snow on the trail to this point. HJ has some pics of the bridge damage. He'll probably post them. 'Tis time to pack the ice ax and crampons on a regular basis! Be prepared out there. We saw several folks in jeans and sweatshirts and tennis shoes(!) heading up. What are they thinking???? Sadie is resting comfortably.

[Opus]

Good try! Rare to see you guys get turned back. Maybe your trail runner was the same guy I saw up at Melakwa last week; an hour from sunset while it was snowing, in sneakers, shorts, and windbreaker with a tiny pack. I was surprised by the crust on the snow too, but of course we were only up at Kendall lakes. I've wanted to do Granite in the winter for awhile now, maybe this will finally be the year. Guess I'll have to dig the crampons out of the closet!

[Andrew]

Your second picture of Sadie nearly made me shoot cranberry juice out of my nose.

[Sadie's Driver]

[TrailPair]

There were several "what ifs" on this trip..... What if we had continued on the cross slope on the summer route? What if we had waited just an hour to let the snow soften? What if we had our ice axes? Any othe those things would have made the trip much easier. It was kinda exciting going up the slope on those icy conditions Let's all be safe out there! Tis the season to carry the extra gear!