February 26, 2005, Little Devil Pk-(Pt 6708)

Point 6708 of Little Devil Peak

Elevation hiked/skinned-up: 5,000 vf; elevation skied down: 1,400 vf.  Not at all bad for the month of June  ??? :D ,but also a great place to introduce a member of our group to the 'mellow' terrain of the North Cascades!   ;)

Michael T., Corinne J., Kristina W., and myself departed from our car camp at the Monogram Lake/Lookout Mtn trailhead (starting elevation ~1,255-ft) along the Cascade River Road at ~ 7 am, hiking up the first ~3,500' in ~ 3 hrs on a very nicely graded trail.  Patchy snow coverage began around ~3,500 ft elev., but was not "skinnable" until ~4,500', where we departed from the summer trail.  The initial plan from there was to ascend the SW-NE trending ridge through the forest up to Pt. 6708, to access W-SW facing slopes for the ski descent.  The last ~2,500' of elevation gain took us a notably slower ~ 4 hrs, after departing from the summer trail, mostly owing to our somewhat brushy/low snow cover ascent route through "Little Devil's Hell" from ~ 4,600' to ~5,400' on the densely forested SW ridge of Pt 6708.  Just another casual North Cascades ascent route  ).  After checking out the snow on an open slope on the northern side of the ridge (a potential escape from "Little Devil's Hell" ), we decided it was better to stay on the moderate slopes (somewhat scarcely snow-covered) on the ridgeline in the forest (noted an easy clean shear in cohesive snow ~12" deep in a pit dug at the edge of that open slope, possible depth hoar layer?).  We found an alternate exit from "Little Devil's Hell" onto a somewhat steep (30-35 degrees) and open south-facing solar aspect, with June-like consolidated corn snow and large grass patches.  After an interesting traverse across that slope, we ascended up a SW aspect to ~6,200', at the top of the south ridge off Pt. 6708. Spectacular overlook of the Cascade River area from here, including a direct view up Marble Creek toward Eldorado Peak from our ridgeline view point.

Michael and Corinne ascended the final ~500' on the south ridge of Pt. 6708 to tag the summit.  Noted several crust layers in a snowpit dug on a W aspect at ~6,100' (at ~12" , and ~24"+ deep; no shears were noted on these layers during shovel compression testing).  The snowpack had become notably deeper at ~6,000-ft on the ascent route (lee side of the ridge from prior east-winds).

We enjoyed a ~1,200 vf ski run down the SW-facing slopes of Pt 6708 in wonderful June corn snow  :D ; probably the best 'mid-winter spring corn' I've ever harvested  :). After reaching the flats at the bottom of the run, a descending traverse through the trees brought us back to the summer trail (avoiding "Little Devil's Hell").  Took skis off at ~4,800-ft elev. where exposed rocks/roots, etc. began to prevail, for a nice stroll back down ~3,600 vf to the trailhead.  Despite the complete lack of lower elevation snowpack, the weather, ski conditions (above ~5,000-ft), and solitude were spectacular!

Other pics:

Kristina shucks some fresh corn

Michael enjoys the scenery on the ski down

Michael finishing the corn harvest

--Chris