[Opus]

Most of you probably know I'm a huge nerd. Most probably dont know that today, March 14th (3.14) is Pi Day! Off we went to Web Mountain to celebrate. Well, me anyway. I think the others just wanted to hike up a peak or something less nerdy. Today Suzanne, Gusto, Barry, and I were joined by GeoTom, Jasper, and Alti-Babe. We all made it to the trailhead at 9am, daylight savings time adjusted, and geared up. Quickly I found I'd had delusions of health. I've been fighting colds, a strained neck muscle, and now my cold flared up. I felt like I had only one lung and quickly became the trip caboose. Happily everyone kept an eye on me. We hoofed it past the balcony where we began to hit snow. At the fork in the trail below the rock field we continued straight towards Web. The snow here was powdery and a few post holes were had. Further onwards, in the trees, we switched to snowshoes. We continued upwards through nice forest but were blasted by a serious arctic wind full of blowing snow. Pushing through this we were confronted with a steep traverse. Barry broke his way across and began the flail upwards to the ridgeline. Jasper did his best to help by walking in between everyone's legs. Finally on the ridge we decided to call it a day. There was a large overhanging wind-blown cornice on this narrow section and the conditions were really unpleasant. Unexpectedly, checking my altimeter, we stopped more or less 314 ft from the top! Appropriate for Pi Day. The descent went quickly in the fresh snow and we stopped for lunch out of the wind. Jasper and Gusto fought over our snacks and attention as we ate. Before long we packed up and descended the rest of the way to the cars. Once again I was firmly established as the caboose. But the biggest surprise of the day? We reached the cars at exactly 1:59 pm! Our return time was 3.14 1:59 pm. Happy Pi Day! (Pi = 3.1415926)

McClellan Butte

Rocks

Into the wind

Web Mountain

Fresh snow

Make way for Jasper! (dog)

Overhanging cornice, end of the line

This means something on 3.14

[TrailPair]

All this talk about Pi reminds me of being back in college. Ugh.

[bobbi]

i knew it was PI Day

pies at Old Mill Cafe, Carlsborg (Sequim)

[detekt]

A great movie for Pi Day: Pi One of my favorites.

[Sadie's Driver]

. . . and, Opus had his Pi and ate it, too!!! Well, since I forced David to write the report before he collapsed into bed for some well-deserved rest, I'll add my two cents. Actually, the snow started much, much lower today than it did at the end of December when Elle and I did Dirty Harry. In fact, the route - i.e. the "treek" (that's a combination of trail and creek - which the Dirty Harry route usually is!) was quite reasonable. Only a little water on the trail today. David's right, that it was one really, really mean wind blowing us around and when we got to the ridge, there really wasn't much ridge to plod along - so we called it good with about 4000' of gain (according to Tish) and maybe 7 miles roundtrip. The weather was definitely much sunnier than any of us expected! Although it was chilly near the top - it was 54 when we got back to the car (37 degrees when we started at 9:00 a.m.). A nice little romp with deep, fresh powder above 4100'. This goes on the "to be continued" list! Fun group (except for, ahem, perhaps one member of the party . . . just saying . . . . )(P.S. I think Jasper is just jealous that Gus has longer legs!!! )

Organizing at the trailhead

McClellan

Boulder field above

Decent trail

No-name point on the Web ridge

Looking back at Dirty Harry's

Clouds above Web zooming by

Tish and Barry heading to the ridge

Winds whistling on Web

Peek-a-boo views

Olympics in the distance - Seattle skyline mid-way

Gus following Tom with the promise of treats!

Barry and Tish with Web behind

Lunch time under the watchful eye of Jasper

Lunch is in here somewhere!

Jasper the stout doing what he does best: Mooch Pooch!

[touron]

Nice report, even though I was hoping for a loop hike with a constant radius.

[Snowdog]

I knew it was PI day too!! Home from SV- I had big fun- will tell all next time we meet...... I showed Isabel this report, and she was jealous that Gus was hiking with someone else! I assured her they are 'just friends'.( and Jasper is a boy I presume?)

[Middle E]

I have been to Web Mtn. before, but it was in summer and I came over from Putrid Pete's Pk. I didn't expect that it would be so difficult to reach the ridgeline from the basin - perhaps there are other spots that would have been more feasible. Better snow conditions would have helped! Another route to Web is to follow the ridgeline up from just below Dirty Harry's Museum, but this has it's own problems. Oh well, it was still a good workout on a nice PI day....

Point NW of Web Mtn.

Bowl below Web Mtn.

Web Mtn.

Dirty Harry's through the trees

Tradks to Web Mtn.

[Hikingqueen]

I wished I had know it was PI day

[Shoko]

Mmmmm....Pi.... Thank you for the educational TR

[Jasper]

[Redwic]

Nice!!! At 8:00 AM, I nearly decided to leave my house and make an attempt of Web Mountain via that route, solo. It has been on my "to do" list for a while, and I do not plan to get there via P3. Darn it... I would have arrived at nearly the same time, too. Seeing your report, I should have gone with my initial gut instinct, but instead I chose to hike elsewhere further south. Good job getting as far as you did. Did you park across the street (in the grass) from the trail, or at the gate a distance away?

[Sadie's Driver]