Forum Index > Trip Reports > Tronsen Ridge / Haney Meadows loop, 2.13.2011
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Opus
Wannabe



Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics
Location: The big rock candy mountain
Opus
Wannabe
PostSun Feb 13, 2011 10:42 pm 
Minutes after deciding to head to Tronsen with Lauren I heard back from Suzanne's group about another trip. So many places to go, so little time! But the destination was Blewett Pass this time. So off we went under surprisingly nice weather. Very pretty driving across Snoqualmie with an inch or two of fresh snow and blue skies. Parking at the Blewett Pass snow park - yes, this one actually had snow - we were the only vehicle not towing snowmobiles. But we quickly left all the engines behind and jumped off the road, climbing up to the forest discovery trail. Some initial confusion here but we found our way onto the blue diamond route up towards Diamond Head. The snow was rock hard, no need for snowshoes, so we relied on microspikes for some traction. As we climbed higher we debated whether to go up Diamond Head or the other peak across the valley, which we christened "Diamond Tail". Diamond Tail it was. Up we went on bare ground and scree to have lunch on the rocky outcrop, looking out at the Stuart range. Great day! No wind and very pleasant. After lunch we continued over the little peak, down the other side, and onwards over Tronsen Head. A surprising amount of powder up here, much nicer than the icy snow below, and finally a use for the snowshoes we dragged along. On the other side we had some confusion at the junction with Table Mountain trail, Lillian Mountain trail, and a blue diamond route, along with a couple signs covered in horse shoes. Only half of these were on my USGS. The Lillian trail headed the right way so we used that one, eventually reaching the junction with the Tronsen Meadows trail. This was not visible at all in the drifted snow so we made our way down the drainage, picking up the trail part way. It was a post hole fest here until about 4500 ft where we reached the summer trailhead. We followed this road downwards and across Tronsen Meadows where we were thoroughly discombobulated by all the unmarked ski routes and blue diamonds going everywhere. My USGS was not helpful, and the snow wasn't deep enough to go cross country easily, so we picked the routes that more or less went the right direction. Probably not the most efficient planning but it worked and did get us back to the car. Every kind of snow conditions possible on this one. Ice, packed crusts, post holing rocks, powder, gooey post holing snow, slippery muddy snow! Fun and a great day to be out!
Snow park
Snow park
Helpful signs
Helpful signs
Blue Diamonds
Blue Diamonds
Diamond Head
Diamond Head
Diamond Tail
Diamond Tail
Tree with flair
Tree with flair
Rocks
Rocks
Chia Log
Chia Log
Captain Morgan ad
Captain Morgan ad
Lauren
Lauren
Long way down
Long way down
Windy up there
Windy up there
Stuart Range
Stuart Range
Tracks from a tiny animal
Tracks from a tiny animal
Mystery teepee
Mystery teepee

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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks



Joined: 13 Feb 2007
Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics
Location: Stuck in the middle
puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
PostMon Feb 14, 2011 1:03 am 
That summit looks interesting. Did you have a GPX track or a map route line?

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DIYSteve
seeking hygge



Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics
Location: here now
DIYSteve
seeking hygge
PostMon Feb 14, 2011 9:07 am 
Diamond Tail
Diamond Tail
Hmmmmm. Isn't that Windy Knob?

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Opus
Wannabe



Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 3700 | TRs | Pics
Location: The big rock candy mountain
Opus
Wannabe
PostMon Feb 14, 2011 9:09 am 
I don't have a track for this one but it's easy to reach. It's the unnamed little summit due east of Diamond Head. We thought Diamond Tail was an appropriate name, since it doesn't even have an elevation number on USGS. From this angle it looks like that rock is the highpoint, but it's actually just a little outcrop about 200 ft from the true summit. I went there with Joe back in 2007, but we didn't do the full loop. He has a GPS track in this trip report: Diamond Head 2007

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DIYSteve
seeking hygge



Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 12655 | TRs | Pics
Location: here now
DIYSteve
seeking hygge
PostMon Feb 14, 2011 9:48 am 
Yep, that's Windy Knob. It's a few feet higher than the high point of DH. It's looking bony! A month or so ago there was (barely) sufficient snow to ski WK and DH.

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wildernessed
viewbagger



Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics
Location: Wenatchee
wildernessed
viewbagger
PostMon Feb 14, 2011 10:07 am 
up.gif Wow, there is less snow up there than in a regular non LaNina year.

Living in the Anthropocene
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fourteen410
Member
Member


Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
fourteen410
Member
PostTue Feb 15, 2011 12:50 am 
Opus wrote:
Fuzzy
Fuzzy
Could this be the same chia log that we saw yesterday? Looks like it hasn't grown much hair since 2007.

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