Had a great day with Tom and the Beave covering about ten miles and 4,500' of gain. The route started at the Denny Creek trail an then went up to Lake Melakwa. The snow covered the lake to such a depth it was difficult to discern where the edge of the lake was. We made it up to Melakwa Pass without difficulty and were delighted to see that the cornice which was 18 feet on the sides had reduced to 4 feet in the windblown middle section. We glissaded down a steep slope to Chair Peak Lake and then snowshoed over an avalanche swept slope with contorted trees down to Snow Lake. It was a unique hike to be so close to Chair Peak and see fluted rock walls which are not as obvious from the trail across the lake. We made the exhausting altitude gain to the ridge overlooking Source Lake and were quite pleased to join up with trenches made by other snowshoers as our energy was drained. Turbocharged Beave lead most of the way with great steps for all of us. Started at 0800 and finished at 1700. A wonderful day seeing spectacular scenery with a dynamic group of guys.
"Turbocharged Beave" - hey, that's an understatement, I think he has a supercharger inside . Da Beave was breaking trail in steep uphill inclines with his snowshoes sinking about 2 feet and I couldn't even keep pace following his packed footsteps. Mike is also being too modest about his own trail breaking contribution - not much less than the Beave. I'm ashamed to say how much trail I broke . If you didn't know better, you'd think I was the 50 year old guy. Hey Stefan, BTW, I'm only 36, not 60 .
There is an incredible amount of snow out there - more snow than I've seen in the mid of winter in some years. Source Lake was not recognizable at all, nor was Upper Melakwa.
Surprisingly good. Lots of tree bombs though. As always, use your own judgement and common sense.
BTW, got some pictures up now, click here.
P.S. Mike's complete trip report is now up at the WTA site.
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