October 26, 2014, Pinnacle Glacier
10/26/14
7849
1
After our early September turns, we held out in the hopes from some fresh turns for October. Waiting week after week, we thought for sure that our luck had ran out. October last year skunked a friend of mine from completing his first full year, we were determined to bag our turns this year. Looking at the NOAA forecast we expected some sloppy wet turns, but a short hike up to Pinnacle Glacier.
We left Issaquah around 6:30 and took Stevens Canyon RD to reflection lake. We we're in for a surprise.... Approaching the turn off at near Chinook Pass we were greeted with 3" of fresh snow! We continued towards the park entrance and headed up Stevens Canyon RD. The surprise continued... by the time we got to reflection lake there was a good 8-12 inches of fresh snow on the road.
To fresh pow!
We followed a group of two skiers up (who's names I can't remember for the life of me sorry guys, I even asked when we were at our cars) the trail. The trail was covered in snow the whole way up to the glacier. After maybe an hour hike we were at the top of the glacier and dropped in for the turns. Very interesting snow. Huge freezing rain event the night before and the foot of new, relatively sticky and heavy snow made for an interesting ride down that may or may not have ended up in a couple spills between the 3 of us, but hey at least with all that fresh snow it was a soft landing; The heavy wind and snow made for poor visibility and depth perception is also another factor that contributed.
Looking up at the snow covered glacier
Looking up at the snow covered Pinnacle Peak. You can also see the white ice on the side of the rocks to the left of the frame from the freezing rain event
The hike down was full of post holing just below our knees and the satisfaction of fresh snow and not getting skunked by October again.
I think this is Jireh's 26th month in a row, Tyler's 25th month, and my 10th.
When we got to the car we had a note on the car from the forest ranger. Turned out they closed the Stevens Canyon Road while we were on it. Looks like we'll get the last turns on Pinnacle Glacier until next year!
The note left in the handle of my car.
The full ensemble of pictures here!
We left Issaquah around 6:30 and took Stevens Canyon RD to reflection lake. We we're in for a surprise.... Approaching the turn off at near Chinook Pass we were greeted with 3" of fresh snow! We continued towards the park entrance and headed up Stevens Canyon RD. The surprise continued... by the time we got to reflection lake there was a good 8-12 inches of fresh snow on the road.
To fresh pow!
We followed a group of two skiers up (who's names I can't remember for the life of me sorry guys, I even asked when we were at our cars) the trail. The trail was covered in snow the whole way up to the glacier. After maybe an hour hike we were at the top of the glacier and dropped in for the turns. Very interesting snow. Huge freezing rain event the night before and the foot of new, relatively sticky and heavy snow made for an interesting ride down that may or may not have ended up in a couple spills between the 3 of us, but hey at least with all that fresh snow it was a soft landing; The heavy wind and snow made for poor visibility and depth perception is also another factor that contributed.
Looking up at the snow covered glacier
Looking up at the snow covered Pinnacle Peak. You can also see the white ice on the side of the rocks to the left of the frame from the freezing rain event
The hike down was full of post holing just below our knees and the satisfaction of fresh snow and not getting skunked by October again.
I think this is Jireh's 26th month in a row, Tyler's 25th month, and my 10th.
When we got to the car we had a note on the car from the forest ranger. Turned out they closed the Stevens Canyon Road while we were on it. Looks like we'll get the last turns on Pinnacle Glacier until next year!
The note left in the handle of my car.
The full ensemble of pictures here!
What no pond skimming? Nice job getting at it under maginal conditions -- You beat the ranger to locking the gate on Steven's Canyon road -- folks that headed through Longmire got blocked
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