Home > Trip Reports > April 9, 2015, Gilbert, Goat Rocks

April 9, 2015, Gilbert, Goat Rocks

4/9/15
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3778
6
Posted by ryanl on 4/10/15 12:27pm
Johnny and I skied from 200' below Gilbert's summit yesterday. Conditions were icy for the top bit, and we didn't have crampons (I'm no Gregg Cronn) so we called it good and had nice turns in a beautiful place with no one around.

Route beta for those interested: we switched to skins/boots about 7+ miles from the trailhead at around 5000'. Trail through Conrad Meadows is in good shape, except for a few sections of blow down. GPS said we traveled close to 20 miles, which is more than is in the guidbook. But that might be because we took a slight detour to ski a fun little couloir we'd spotted from Klickitat Ridge a month or so ago. Also, the guidebook doesn't mention a fork in the trail just after Conrad Creek. Last month we didn't see it beneath the snow and ended up at Surprise Lake. This time, we stayed right and had a much more direct route to Gilbert.

Some pics...

Gilbert and the Meade Glacier:


Gilbert up close:


Johnny getting some:



Here's a shot of the couloir taken last month (from above Warm Lake)


Our tracks. Johnny skied lookers left of the buttress and we met up at the base of the couloir hidden from view. Then we made sweet 8's together. Love you Johnny! Thanks for the great day.
Nice work, Ryan, and nice TR!

I love that route in to Gilbert from the east side, need to ski it more often, but it's so far from Seattle and no one else wants to go there since it's so long and obscure. Let's ski it together sometime while you're still in Yakima. I kind of prefer the Surprise Lake side of the trail loop, since it has a scenic view of Gilbert directly above the lake if you walk around to the outlet side.



goat rocks looks sooooo sweet.  you guys are animals.  20+ miles.  7+ before skinning?!?  my feet hurt from reading this. 

yeah nice shots and trip, ryan!  sweet, sweet 8's ;).

gotta check out that area one of these days soon...

Nice work, Ryan!

Anytime Amar. Ditto to you too, Hedo and zbo. Getting kind of lonely down in Yakistan. Give ourselves a couple of nights we could even search out that hotel Chapin place. I hear it's got great views

Nice one, Ryan! That sounds like a full day ...

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april-9-2015-gilbert-goat-rocks
ryanl
2015-04-10 19:27:39