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Topic: February 26, 2005, Little Devil Pk-(Pt 6708) (Read 2944 times)
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cascadesfreak
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Posts: 366
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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   ,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 ; 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
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allyson
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Posts: 233
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sweet pics cass! did you guys see anyone else out there? perhaps the spring-like conditions makes nice solitude on the slopes?
all i can say is 17 days until utah....
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snowshoe?? why would you??
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Michael
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Posts: 153
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Nice trip report Chris! It was a really fun week end! The variation from the standard trail definitely added some spice to the experience.
The corn snow was just perfect...if only these turns could last a little longer!! Here is Chris enjoying the corn:
Corinne and I went biking on highway 20 on Sunday and ended up spending more time on snow with our bikes on Sunday then we had spent time on snow on Sat on the ski trip  ...go figure!
Here are my pictures from the trip:
http://www.trommsdorff.org/Michael/LittleDevil/
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Kevin Steffa
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Excellent north cascades action! Not much more snow now than our trip on Halloween...
I was with some friends on Trappers Peak on sunday (just north across the Skagit from the Little Devil, near Triumph). Not a ski outing but excellent views of the pickets!
Interesting that you would run into snow on 20 when biking -- I was wondering if it would open soon with such little snow...
A few years ago, I bivied on top of that knob 6708. Definitely easier ascending the trees on the west ridge with more snow... Here are some older pics from then.
http://www.catdaddy.com/people/kevin/devils.html
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« Last Edit: 03/01/05, 07:51 AM by Vertigo »
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- Mossman
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JW
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Looks like fun Cassman! Nice report and pics---Jerry
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"You keep skiing, I'll keep filming"
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Charles
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Posts: 1087
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It seems like this group should be co-awarded the "tourture points award" for February, along with the Blum-Hagan group. Congratulations!
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skykilo
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Posts: 693
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Torture points? I felt like our reward to effort ratio was pretty good, so they can have it. Way to go, Cass----! 
Now Charles, if you were talking about the Jan. 30th Blum trip, well, that would be another story.
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