Feb 19-20 ONP Boulder Lake huff
2/15/10
WA Olympics
1854
2
Patchy snow @3500 feet with skiable snow close to the Lake @4000 ft. My original thought is that I would make the climb/ski via three horse lakes and return via Appleton Pass. No can do. The ridge crest is waay to steep to traverse and I wasted myself on the climb up. Probably a better way to go would be to ski the trail towards Happy Lake and follow the ridgecrest west over Boulder Peak and traverse to Appleton.
My bivy on the crest provided for some great views to the North and Appleton. Brilliant stars and unfortunately frozen toes kept me up most of the night. Next time I will bring my down booties! I skied some nice slots on the east aspects. A summit bid will provide some challenging skiing on the north face of Boulder Peak.
I counted over 30 cars at the Boulder Hot Springs parking lot on my return!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bobsneeb/BoulderLake#
My bivy on the crest provided for some great views to the North and Appleton. Brilliant stars and unfortunately frozen toes kept me up most of the night. Next time I will bring my down booties! I skied some nice slots on the east aspects. A summit bid will provide some challenging skiing on the north face of Boulder Peak.
I counted over 30 cars at the Boulder Hot Springs parking lot on my return!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bobsneeb/BoulderLake#
Great trip, thanks for the report. The weather window has been awesome. I've thought once or twice about that loop, what was the snow like on N aspects?
That is a beautiful area. We have hiked it in the summer and have wanted to do a winter trip through this area. Good report and nice pictures.
Gary
Gary
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