Just_Some_Hiker
Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2013
Posts: 691 | TRs | Pics
Location: Snoqualmie, WA |
Well...
The idea was to get out and take full advantage of the “mostly sunny” forecast, but it seems that the mountain gods had other plans for the day.
Heading up the pass from the east side, things were already looking bad. I thought about driving straight through to Paradise, but it was too late for that. I was committed.
Starting off from the Pratt Lake TH, which I'm sure all of you and your grandmothers are familiar with, I headed up the snowy trail which was well compacted by a million boots. Skinning seemed pointless, so I carried skis up to about 3,000 ft. From there, I left the trail and began skinning along the edge of the treeline, parallel to the death-chute. Initially I followed an old skin track, but eventually it crossed the murder-gully to who-knows-where so I just broke my own track after that.
After working up a good sweat, I saw a group of hikers heading straight up a staircase-like boot pack. They were having a much easier time than I was, so I decided to just fall in line and carry my skis from that point.
As many of you know, the winter route basically turns Granite into a ruthless, Mailbox-like hike straight up the ridge SW of the lookout. It's great – lots of fast gain and no tedious switchbacks, aside from the first few below treeline.
As I booted up the ridge, the wind picked up, it began to snow, and visibility got really bad. The crest of the ridge was wind-scoured, with rocks and even grass sticking out everywhere. I opted to put on crampons about halfway up the ridge, as the snow was just too shallow in some places to kick in reliable steps. Micro spikes would have been ideal for this situation, but I was not carrying any.
Towards the top of the ridge, there was better snow coverage and the grade was a little more mellow, so I decided to put skis back on. Stupid mistake, as the snow became hard and icy not five minutes later. I stowed skis again and just continued the rest of the way on foot.
When I arrived at the lookout it was extremely cold, windy and visibility had gotten even worse. Most people I passed earlier seemed to have turned around. I chatted with another skier briefly who had arrived just behind me about how much the conditions sucked, and then made my way down.
I skied down on the right (NW) side of the ridge crest. The snow on the NW side of the upper ridge was hard and wind-affected, with sporadic patches of ice. It wasn't too terrible, though, until I got farther down ridge and ran into sun crust. Horrible, horrible sun crust. Lots of survival skiing ensued, until I made my way back to where I had initially started skinning. I stowed skis and plunged straight down the mountain, cutting all the switchbacks. This was actually the nicest part of the decsent.
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