April 4, 2004, Hidden Lake Peak
4/4/04
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
3260
5
With Sunday forecasted to be as lovely as Saturday, we decided to make a respectable day of it. Having learned Sibley Creek Road was navigable, though curious as to how far, our small army of six set out from Seattle shortly after 6:00am for the Hidden Lake Peak trailhead. I had nearly 4 hours of sleep in me and was feeling strong-like-bull.
The road was clear up to ~2700 ft., 1.5 miles short of the trailhead. Fortunately, it was all snowgoing after 2900 ft, allowing us to skin from that point to the top at 7100 ft.
Rather than stick to the summer trail, which is both longer and runs beneath avy prone S and W facing slopes starting at ~4200 ft., we cut south off the trail at 3600 ft. The trees were thick and the skin steep, but it still seems the best decision. From 5100 to the top was open and well consolidated. Or better said, it was boilerplate; even in the sunny late morning there were stretches I wished I hadn't left my ski crampons in the car.
We topped out early afternoon, choosing the peak rather than the lookout. And good thing! To gain the lookout would have required us to cut a sun-cooked face with recent natural slide activity, then traverse under a behemoth cornice band for 100 yards. It would have taken someone with bigger grapes than me to do it; they arrived ~30 minutes after us.
After making sure our new neighbors didn't get buried, we took to the downslope. The snow was variable and tricky at times, but it was all sweet, sweet spring corn. In combination with blue skies and big views, it was well worth the climb:
We were able to ski freely until shortly below treeline (~2000'). The last stretch to the trail was somewhat trickier, though I've had worse:
http://www.students.washington.edu/kleang/philms/hidden_lakes/treebark.asf
It was a good day. More pics at:
http://community.webshots.com/album/131881301SfEmBX
The road was clear up to ~2700 ft., 1.5 miles short of the trailhead. Fortunately, it was all snowgoing after 2900 ft, allowing us to skin from that point to the top at 7100 ft.
Rather than stick to the summer trail, which is both longer and runs beneath avy prone S and W facing slopes starting at ~4200 ft., we cut south off the trail at 3600 ft. The trees were thick and the skin steep, but it still seems the best decision. From 5100 to the top was open and well consolidated. Or better said, it was boilerplate; even in the sunny late morning there were stretches I wished I hadn't left my ski crampons in the car.
We topped out early afternoon, choosing the peak rather than the lookout. And good thing! To gain the lookout would have required us to cut a sun-cooked face with recent natural slide activity, then traverse under a behemoth cornice band for 100 yards. It would have taken someone with bigger grapes than me to do it; they arrived ~30 minutes after us.
After making sure our new neighbors didn't get buried, we took to the downslope. The snow was variable and tricky at times, but it was all sweet, sweet spring corn. In combination with blue skies and big views, it was well worth the climb:
We were able to ski freely until shortly below treeline (~2000'). The last stretch to the trail was somewhat trickier, though I've had worse:
http://www.students.washington.edu/kleang/philms/hidden_lakes/treebark.asf
It was a good day. More pics at:
http://community.webshots.com/album/131881301SfEmBX
Nice TR, great trip, Skipper.
Keep up the good work!!
Keep up the good work!!
Kam - great sound effects in the movie. I didn't realize you guys were that religious. Does appealing to Jesus really help?
Good job you guys! Nice pics. ----- Jerry
"Grande Cocoa!" Nice description of the trip Skip! My favorite part was definitely the tree skiing! :D Fortuntately we all made it out mostly intact :)