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SlowWalker Perma-grinner
Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Posts: 888 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
I've done Granite Mountain once before, in the summer, but I've read a lot of TRs about winter trips to Granite and my buddy jt had been talking about skiing Granite Mountain for several years so we decided to go for it last Friday.
The weather forecast called for rain and the temps had been hovering around freezing all week, so we didn't know what kind of conditions we'd find. If there was freezing rain or even a lot of regular rain, our plan B was to head a few miles up the road to Alpental. Fortunately for us, the weather forecasters changed their mind early Friday morning and decided we would have a day of clearing skies... and they were right.
We were the first to park at the trailhead at about 10am. We each had packs loaded with ski gear, water, food and warm clothes. My pack weighed in at 45lbs with skis, boots, poles, helmet, camera, and everything else. I chose to do the ascent in my leather hiking boots and strap my alpine ski boots to the pack. jt hiked up in his tele boots.
The first two miles were on good trail, the rest was pretty much straight up on the snow. We followed the wind scoured west ridge up, occasionally on rock, rising into the clouds. The wind was blowing the clouds by quickly, though, and we felt sure they would be gone by the time we reached the top. Four hours and nearly 4,000 vertical feet later, we reached the top of Granite Mountain and had a break at the lookout tower. We shared the summit with two friendly day hikers and their dog and chatted about other hikes that would be possible this time of year.
We spent over an hour at the summit, the skies cleared and Mt Rainier was even visible to the south. Avy danger was minimal, so we put on the skis and dropped into the south face. The snow was not quite warm enough to be corn, but was soft enough that it wasn't very heavy, which made for some nice turns. Pinwheels of snow rolled down the slope as we skied. We worked our way down the first chute to almost tree line where the old avy debris piled up, then moved over to the second chute and worked our way as far down as we could. We ended up making it about 2,600 ft down before we had to give up the skis and bushwhack back to the west until we found the trail again. We picked up the Pratt Lake trail less than a mile from the trail head.
It was a very good time, and I give a big thanks to jt for slowing down enough to let me keep up.
Wind scoured ridge Skis at the summit of Granite Mountain Tower and cornice Looking North from Granite Mtn to Crystal Lake and Upper Lake Tuscohatchie Lookout Tower, Granite Mountain summit pano JT skiing Granite Mountain SnoqPeaksPanskitrack granitemountainskiingtrack
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Great report and pics SW. Love that pano....
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:11 pm
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Good stuff, SW. Two weeks ago there was three extra feet of snow at the TH! I like your ski line, also.
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SlowWalker Perma-grinner
Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Posts: 888 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
Hey, thanks guys!
I should mention that the two pictures that I drew our lines on were not taken by me, so they were not actualy taken on this 3-16-07. I grabbed them from Turns All Year and I hope they don't mind too much.
I struggled a bit under the weight of my gear for the last 1,000 feet of climbing, but once on top I completely forgot about that.
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summithound Climbing Connoisseur
Joined: 26 Jul 2004 Posts: 1766 | TRs | Pics Location: Everett, WA |
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summithound
Climbing Connoisseur
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Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:52 pm
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Thanks for the trip report SlowWalker. The mountain sure looks different in the snow!
Pain is just weakness leaving the body.
Pain is just weakness leaving the body.
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mgd Member
Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 3143 | TRs | Pics Location: Full Moon Saloon |
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mgd
Member
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Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:13 pm
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Nice pictures and great panorama. Thanks for labeling the peaks.
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dicey custom title
Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2870 | TRs | Pics Location: giving cornices a wider berth |
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dicey
custom title
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Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:39 pm
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Sheesh! That is a LONG way to carry skis/boots up!
Glad it was worth the effort
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13116 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:25 pm
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Ha! I remember seeing two guys with skis on their back in spray park in early August. Turns-all-year; those guys climb 4000' and do a brutal bushwack to get 400' vertical in!
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SkyeBlu Member
Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 52 | TRs | Pics
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SkyeBlu
Member
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Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:24 pm
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Nice Pics. We're planning to do Granite next week. Is your red line the preferred route? How was the avy chute? No skiis on our trip. Expect to kick steps. Would snow shoes be a good option?
Thanks
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SlowWalker Perma-grinner
Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Posts: 888 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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SlowWalker
Perma-grinner
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Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:56 am
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The red line represents our approximate route up, which is the winter route up that wind scoured ridge.
I can only only tell you what it was like on the 16th, of course, but at that time the avy danger was very low because heavy rains earlier in the week meant things that were likely to slide had already slid. I hiked up with ski poles and leather hiking boots. Snowshoes would not have been useful on that day, but other hikers used an ice ax instead of poles - you definitely want one or the other.
It has snowed more since then and probably rained too, so be sure to judge the conditions on the day of your trip. Have fun!
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