Access : N. Fork Teanaway>FR 112>Beverly Turnpike Trail 1391
Maps : GTM Mt. Stuart, Wa., NG TOPO Washington
Stats: 8.5 miles, 3000' gain, 7 hr. roundtrip
I was on the trail late 0745 hr. (had to have the am coffee ). The drive to the trailhead was snowfree and the road in good condition. I passed more than several RV's evacuating after a weekend of backcountry carnage, later dudes and now that it's a weekday only one car was at the TH.
It was a cool 34 degrees with clear skies and sun peeking through the surrounding mountains / ridges. Bean Creek was up and flowing several ways so I ended up doing a Hail Mary across some rocks and clusters of logs. The trail is snow free for a mile or around 4200' after which intervals of snow become constant snow. Initially it was well consolidated and with the cold temps nearly rock hard, but it becomes fairly deep with some undermining from snow melt. I saw a few deep postholes, but it wasn't a problem for me initially. I used the GTM and a GPS to wander through the trees, no real discernible footprints after awhile. I crossed Beverly Creek and many other runs on snow bridges a plenty.
I used crampons on the hard snow to make the N ridge then ran it S to the summit over rock and snow. Nice views all around, I can see why JimK likes Iron Peak.
It was a workout with the increasing temps and full sun, along with the snow which was rapidly becoming soft, much more than I thought it would be. I returned the way I came with several small glissades (JimK's 500' butt trench is still etched in the snow from his glissade), but on the way back I postholed quite a few times, it became very warm. I saw several Elk and a Chipmunk along the way. 70 degrees back at the truck. I saw one other backpacker who was going to try and camp on Iron Peak, but didn't like the cornices so was going elsewhere.
Rob,
Glad to see you had a chance to get up there this spring. A better than average view I'd say. Why did you pass up that perfectly good glissade track? Perhaps some glissading lessons are in order.
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roundtrip
I was on the trail late 0745 hr. (had to have the am coffee 
). The drive to the trailhead was snowfree and the road in good condition. I passed more than several RV's evacuating after a weekend of backcountry carnage, later dudes 
and now that it's a weekday only one car was at the TH.
It was a cool 34 degrees with clear skies and sun peeking through the surrounding mountains / ridges. Bean Creek was up and flowing several ways so I ended up doing a Hail Mary across some rocks and clusters of logs. The trail is snow free for a mile or around 4200' after which intervals of snow become constant snow. Initially it was well consolidated and with the cold temps nearly rock hard, but it becomes fairly deep with some undermining from snow melt. I saw a few deep postholes, but it wasn't a problem for me initially. I used the GTM and a GPS to wander through the trees, no real discernible footprints after awhile. I crossed Beverly Creek and many other runs on snow bridges a plenty.
I used crampons on the hard snow to make the N ridge then ran it S to the summit over rock and snow. Nice views all around, I can see why JimK likes Iron Peak.
It was a workout with the increasing temps and full sun, along with the snow which was rapidly becoming soft, much more than I thought it would be. I returned the way I came with several small glissades (JimK's 500' butt trench is still etched in the snow from his glissade), but on the way back I postholed quite a few times, it became very warm. I saw several Elk and a Chipmunk along the way. 70 degrees back at the truck. I saw one other backpacker who was going to try and camp on Iron Peak, but didn't like the cornices so was going elsewhere.
although a much quicker way down.
