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Jim Dockery Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 3092 | TRs | Pics Location: Lake Stevens |
Three of us headed up Hidden Lake Peak Monday morning. John & I stayed the night in the lookout while Jens had to get home that night so he tagged the summit and skied out.
It was cold in the morning leaving the car, and the snow was frozen hard when we put on skins and ski crampons (absolutely necessary) after crossing the stream into the open gully.
Icy skining
The snow improved once up on the long traverse over to the lookout, but there were still some icy spots on any windblown ridges.
Traversing Hidden Lk Pk. Gettin' there Traversing over to the easy final ridge to the hut
The last climb to the hut was quite firm so John booted it, but my skin/crampon combo was working better so I managed to skin all the way.
Bootin' up a steep bit Last bit to hut
We hadn't set any speed records on our way up so we decided not to take an evening run since the snow wasn't very good and we wanted to dry our inner boots in the last sun. It was cool seeing Jens on the summit and admiring his tracks as the sun set.
Look for Jen's orange jacket on the summit.
We enjoyed the sunset, then a bit of a breeze got us back in the hut for dinner and a few hands of rummy before bed.
Moonrise over Sahale Sunset on Hidden Lake Peak - note ski tracks off summit The hut Sunset Great hut
There was no hurry in the morning since we wanted the sun to warm the snow a bit, esp. on the ski down from the hut.
Dawn Sunrise Over North Cascades Hidden Lk Pk Mt. Baker & Shuksan Skiing from hut
Jens made the run from the summit look pretty darn good, but we figured that was just him (he's a pretty solid skier). We had all day though and had to check it out even if it turned out to be crap. Climbing up we encounter variable snow, protected grooves of old powder, wind blown plates of sastrugi, and bulges of ice.
Last bit to summit
We were very surprised to find the snow off the summit was pretty darn good old powder preserved with an easy to slice wind crust. We even had fun with our big packs!
John looks for good snow There it is!
We dropped about 1000 ft., left the packs and headed back up for another wonderful lap.
Skiing Hidden Lake Peak from j d on Vimeo.
We were glad to find the lower gully had softened a good bit by the time we hit it so that wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be.
Side slipping the trail out
Looking for a nice campout we found some of our best skiing of this dismal season!
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PorcupinePhobia Murse
Joined: 04 Mar 2012 Posts: 1002 | TRs | Pics Location: Hwy20 |
Awesome photo set, as usual
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olderthanIusedtobe Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Posts: 7708 | TRs | Pics Location: Shoreline |
Nice pics, it's cool seeing some of those peaks in winter conditions.
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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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Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:32 pm
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Great story.
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Shred Member
Joined: 05 May 2009 Posts: 255 | TRs | Pics Location: Slowhomish |
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Shred
Member
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Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:06 pm
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leahrobinson65 Member
Joined: 05 May 2015 Posts: 1 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle, Wa |
I've been wanting to do this hike in the winter for quite some time now...I'm not super great at touring, so I think this would be too difficult for me in terms of skiin down (I can go uphill all day ), but was wondering if it might be doable with microspokes or crampons/ice axe? Thanks for any and all help!
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7220 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Tue May 05, 2015 2:33 pm
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Looks like an awesome trip. A place I have yet to visit.
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