March 6, 2010, Hidden Lake Peak
3/6/10
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
2279
3
Our friends wanted to head somewhere up Cascade River, so eventually we settled on Hidden Lake Peak. Drove to the end of the road with no problem. The crux of the route (and location of most falls) was the forest hike up to the gully. The trail started out nice, but turned to ice and the ground was too frozen for me to kick steps in with my ski boots... Not a long section, but a pain.
Eventually we made the gully, then good skinning with ski-crampons from there all the way to the summit (7088). The snowpack was pretty wind scoured, but typically was 6-in of soft to breakable crust on a hard 2" thick ice layer. Made for goooood skiing.
Tagged a couple chutes on the way down. Sluff management was the name of the game. Ran into two other groups, and all seemed to be enjoying the views on such a beautiful day.
snow
up up
final push
the dark side
dark side is gooood
tortoise and the hare
Eventually we made the gully, then good skinning with ski-crampons from there all the way to the summit (7088). The snowpack was pretty wind scoured, but typically was 6-in of soft to breakable crust on a hard 2" thick ice layer. Made for goooood skiing.
Tagged a couple chutes on the way down. Sluff management was the name of the game. Ran into two other groups, and all seemed to be enjoying the views on such a beautiful day.
snow
up up
final push
the dark side
dark side is gooood
tortoise and the hare
added pics
Nice trip. Did you happen to check the bond to that crust?
not really. lots of hand pits, that showed the top layer of snow (0-8") was wind deposited/scoured and was typically light and non-cohesive. Up near the summit ridge, there was some small pockets of reactive wind slab that were sliding on the hard layer.
sorry, i didn't do any crystal id or full pits. The ice layer (1F+) was about 2" thick at most hand pits with a 4F layer below.
sorry, i didn't do any crystal id or full pits. The ice layer (1F+) was about 2" thick at most hand pits with a 4F layer below.
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