April 24, 2004, Black Peak
4/24/04
2245
1
Ben, Kevin and I left seattle around 5:30 am for highway 20 in search of something to ski, although we didn't know what that was yet. On the way we opted for Black Peak. It took some time to get started from the trailhead due to the light snow, cloudy skies and much indecision. Finally we were on our way to heather pass. Good skinning conditions and the clearing sky got us to wing lake rather quickly. However, we struggled up the south ridge, where snow is melting quickly and lots of holes exist. The excellent views caused lots of picture taking, which took a little too long and by this time the snow had already gotten pretty crusty. Lots of survival skiing led us back to our car around 8pm.
joshua
joshua
We were also up at Black Peak and enjoyed 2 beautiful days. Plans changed as we glanced from a col at the northwest face. Deep snow over rock didn't look pleasent (to descend) and thin snow on the NW face didn't look promising either. We opted to head back down and climb around to the south side. Great skiing and easy climbing on scree and mellow slopes led to the summit. We enjoyed beautiful views of Bonanza (oh yea) and everything else (there's a few). It was nice to see a new area (and now I know it is an easy one day). Get out and enjoy the week. For those of us that can't, plan for the coming weekend...
Reply to this TR
Please login first: