Juneuary 26, Hidden Lake Peaks

With no anticipation of finding good snow anywhere we decided to go for some good views instead and scout some things for climbs this summer........errr make that March?
Road had some snow on switchbacks, chains and excessive tire spin got us less then a mile from the summer trailhead.  The summer trail is very easy to follow, some very sketchy ice in places, microspikes would be handy.



Once at the avy gully on the summer trail we saw that south faces had slid to bare ground. Very sad.  Very difficult to navigate where alder forced us on to it for a short section.  When I say very difficult what I mean is that I fell here. I don't fall hiking, seriosly.  This was followed by blurting out "WHAT THE F*#K ARE WE DOING HERE?".  I don't question why I'm in the mountains, ever.  Let's just say it sucked there.





We decided to go straight up to the col east where the summer trail cuts off on it's long traverse (Sibley Pass?).  Inconsistent and occasional smooth bullet proof had made skinning impossible in sections, we just gave up and just booted it.



Nice spot to take a long lunch. 



First turns the crust would not break, might as well have been ice, ok edge hold though.  A little lower we found a few turns to make it look awesome on the internet, because that's really what this is all about right?



The lower section in the gully was some of the most ridiculous survival skiing.  Once we hit the woods there is no where near enough coverage to ski, had to hike the trail out.  Then take road out, which was incredibly uneven bullet proof ice, when this is the crux of your trip something is wrong.



Also of note, Mondo is closed until March, we were the last ones served for January.