June 23, 2010, Hidden Lake Peak
6/23/10
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
1606
0
Given the weather forecast for everything past Wednesday this week, I decided to take a day off of work and head up with my son Nick. Given the weather conditions this morning, it looks like I may have been hoodwinked.
Even so it was a decent day. Only a short shower as we breached the summit ridge, otherwise pleasant sunshine, some filtered, some welcome shade from the passing cloud and light cool breezes. I always loved the unhindered views of the mountains from this summit, but a scattered deck of clouds really enhances the depth of field and seems to make the mountains look just that much higher and steeper. Will post pictures when I get a chance.
Thought I would post this briefly for people interested in the conditions for the weekend.
We hiked a switchback or two after exiting the trees, before putting the skis on. Good coverage. There is a solid base. We had about 4 inches of wet corn on top of that. At about 6500ft you can see old wind deposited snow that is just as corned as the older snow, so no effect on skiing.
We moved slow. Skinning was slow, limited by the wet corn. Tough to side slab, etc. You know the rest. With some thought, I should have boot-packed up lots of the route given the good support 4inches under. We had great skiing on east and west slopes. Good coverage, but with the boulders starting to poke through expect to find sucker holes or incipient traps.
Still lots of snow on the Triad and Eldorado. Even the south facing avalanche slopes bordering the north side of Sibley Creek drainage still have significant snow coverage up high. Must have been the snowfalls from a couple of weeks ago.
Alan
Even so it was a decent day. Only a short shower as we breached the summit ridge, otherwise pleasant sunshine, some filtered, some welcome shade from the passing cloud and light cool breezes. I always loved the unhindered views of the mountains from this summit, but a scattered deck of clouds really enhances the depth of field and seems to make the mountains look just that much higher and steeper. Will post pictures when I get a chance.
Thought I would post this briefly for people interested in the conditions for the weekend.
We hiked a switchback or two after exiting the trees, before putting the skis on. Good coverage. There is a solid base. We had about 4 inches of wet corn on top of that. At about 6500ft you can see old wind deposited snow that is just as corned as the older snow, so no effect on skiing.
We moved slow. Skinning was slow, limited by the wet corn. Tough to side slab, etc. You know the rest. With some thought, I should have boot-packed up lots of the route given the good support 4inches under. We had great skiing on east and west slopes. Good coverage, but with the boulders starting to poke through expect to find sucker holes or incipient traps.
Still lots of snow on the Triad and Eldorado. Even the south facing avalanche slopes bordering the north side of Sibley Creek drainage still have significant snow coverage up high. Must have been the snowfalls from a couple of weeks ago.
Alan
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