May 6-7, Snowfield Peak

Gerhard and I had been thinking about Snowfield for over a year and since we both had a weekend free, we were eager to give it a go, even if conditions weren't perfect...

A forecast of sun and freezing levels up at 8k+ gave us cause for concern about the easy facing avy slopes on Pyramid Peak, but we consoled ourselves that we'd start early and be back at camp before things got too dicey.

Given that the forecast for Saturday looked a bit rainy and we had some flexibility in our work schedules, we opted for a Sunday-Monday trip.  And since we only needed to get up to the ridge at 5400' on Sunday, we started at the Pyramid Lake trailhead at the crack of 10:15.a.m.  Yikes -- my ski-laden pack was heavier than anything I'd carried since, well, last summer.  We walked over and around dozens of small downed trees in the first mile.  Have all those trees really come down since last fall?  Or has it not been maintained in years?  Not sure.

We then managed to lose the trail at around 2000' under the snow, started skinning not long after, then hit the trail again (and took the skis back off).  Long story short, we never saw the lake but did put skis back on at 3k' and did gain the ridge right around where we had hoped to, at 4400', around 2 p.m.

After all the grunting through the woods, the views of Colonial and Pyramid were spectacular. 

Given that we hadn't seen any tracks in some time, we were surprised to hear some laughing not far away; apparently a group of 3 had been aiming for Pyramid but got a 'late start' and were deciding to turn around there, at 4400'.  I refrained from asking them when they had started...

The ridge (which looks like such a friendly one on the map) seems to be nothing but a series of ups and downs; we should have just stayed on the north side of it and followed it until we were near our goal of 5400'.  At least we had learned our lesson for the way back.

We got to our camping spot around 4:45, then explored to figure out where we would traverse across to the Colonial Glacier in the morning.  A good deal of snow had obviously slid recently on the southeast side of Pyramid; I didn't want to be around if it offered a repeat performance the next day.  The plan was to start at 4 a.m. and get back to camp before things started sliding.

At 4 a.m. we had a few inches of crust on top of the snow; enough to make a traverse on skis sketchy; sans-skis, though, post-holing knee deep (with the occasional waste-deep) was the norm.  After almost 90 minutes of post-holing, an exasperated Gerhard put his skis back on and scooted forward.  I was happy that I had ski crampons with me; I'm not sure I would have done the same otherwise.

From there the trip to the summit was more straightforward than I expected.  Visions of a summit covered with rotten snow, rime, and ice had danced through my head in the days leading up to the trip.  But when we finally reached the summit pyramid (the last 700' or so of the climb), it looked like the route straight up the north face might actually go.

Indeed it did.  A couple hundred feet below the summit we dropped our skis, donned crampons, and kicked steps up to the top.  A kick or two (or sometimes three) granted solid footholds... we were on the summit by 9:15 a.m.

By 11:15 we had retraced our steps down to our skis, ridden back across the Neve and Colonial Glaciers (and skinned up to the col separating the two).  Now for the avy paths. 

There was some debate about the optimal route across them, then we started across, with me in the lead.  I looked up at one point and saw some snowballs sliding down towards me, so I started backing up... and eventually turned around and beat a hasty retreat.  A small river of snow slid -- for what seemed like minutes -- while we watched.

In hindsight, it's possible that we should have traversed the known path sans-skins and then hiked out to the ridge on the opposite side.  But during that hike we would have been under some very wet snow for some time.  The best solution (despite my reluctance to get up before 3 a.m.), we probably should have started a few hours earlier that morning.  Or just waited for another weekend.

What we did do was traverse (with skins) across the slope as quickly as we could, crossing our fingers that none of the bits of snow flying off the cliffs above would trigger anything.

Being back at camp was a relief.

Of course, we still had several hundred feet of sun-baked shmoo to work through before we could get down into shadier terrain, where the skiing was reasonably OK.  And then of course there were those several hundred feet of working around downed trees that were no longer covered by snow.  All in all, though, the descent was far more straightforward than our route up; it took about 3.5 hours to get down (instead of the 6.5 to get up).  We were back at the car by 4:30.
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Photos

Mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanashlock/sets/72157629636410100/with/7179886688/

Gerhard's:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35790735@N03/sets/72157629645759080/

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Equipment used:
Crampons, ice axe, skis, skins

Equipment brought, but not used:
30m glacier rope, small selection of rock pro, harnesses, glacier gear

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Timeline:

Sunday:
10:15 a.m. - start
~5 p.m. - set up camp at 5400'

Monday:
3 a.m. - wake up
4 a.m. - start
4:15 a.m. - start traverse below Pyramid
5:45 a.m. - finish traverse
7 a.m. - at saddle
8 a.m. - 700' below summit
(left skis about 200' below summit)
9:15 a.m. - summit
10 a.m. - back down at skis
11:15 a.m. - back at Pyramid traverse
noon - back at camp
1 p.m. - leave camp
4:30 - back at car