Hooked up with Team Internationale for what would turn out to be ideal conditions for this trip--ejain (Switzerland), Jerry (Czech Republic) and Yue Fei (China).
Hidden Lake Peak is a great destination in any season. Spring has flowers, Summer green meadows, Autumn great berries, and Winter a terrific viewpoint of snowy summits. And it's a moderate scramble with or without snow. Three of us having done it in summer, now it was time for the winter route. This follows the trailless NW Ridge and avoids the significant avalanche slopes of the summer trail.
We were able to drive up to the 3000' switchback (road is currently open to the TH, no snow on road) and connect to the NW ridge. This ridge starts out a bit steeply in open forest and is a straight shot to the open higher slopes. No brush bashing at all. We did not hit significant snow until ~4500' and did not put the snowshoes on until over 5000'.
A few short steep slopes put us at treeline. Since he did not have snowshoes, we parted ways with Yue Fei here. Dug a quick pit to check the conditions before heading onto the open slopes. Part of the reason for picking this peak was the hope that the NW aspect would yield stable conditions, and was quite encouraged to find 5" of powder over at least two feet of nicely compacted styrofoam snow. This persisted all the way to the summit. There was no sign of the wet, heavy surface layer that NWAC had suggested may be present due to the recent warming.
Working minor ribs up the slopes we were able to make good time on the nicely compacted snow, never sinking in more than about six inches. The entire winter route is a straight southeasterly line directly to the true summit. No thought of going to the lookout due to some major cornicing on the connecting ridge. Views were spectacular with not a cloud in the sky all day; especially impressive was the Triad just to the north.
We took snowshoes off for the trip down and were treated to terrific snow for plunge stepping--this "styrofoam" snow has just the right amount of give for easy walking.
7 miles and 4100' gain; 4:20 hrs. up and 2:15 down. Thanks for the trip guys!
Eric J. Johnson
I'll have to get up there in the winter sometime. Looks like a great winter climb. I went to the lookout in fall when it was cloudy and couldn't see anything. The video showed me what I was missing Thanks for the TR
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Thanks for the TR