Feb 7, 2016, - Windy Pass to Mirror Lake recon
2/7/16
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I spent the morning before the Super Bowl scouting the route from Windy Pass to Mirror Lake via the Crest Trail. I regard this as the crux of the Patrol Race, which is coming up later this month. There's a lot of snow this year, so the trail is more difficult to follow than in recent years. I used a GPS track extensively to stay on route, and in a few places I strayed too low and had to climb back up a little to correct this.
When I left Windy Pass around 9:30 a.m., the snow conditions were excellent, with a supportive crust topped by a few inches of light fresh snow. By the time I returned a little after noon, the snow was warming, the crust was softening, and some slopes were getting pretty snow-bally.
Of interest was the fact that the north side of Tinkham Peak was heavily traveled by snowmobiles today. I saw a handful of young sledders and we said hello. I honestly don't know how they got there. My best guess is that they came over the divide from Abiel Lake. Nothing illegal about it, just a surprise to find them in such steep country where I've never seen them before.
I scouted as far as Mirror Lake, which had a number of sledders playing on it, then I turned back the way I came. If this level of snowmobile traffic persists, travel conditions for the Feb 27 Patrol Race could be a lot different through this section than they were in 2014.
When I left Windy Pass around 9:30 a.m., the snow conditions were excellent, with a supportive crust topped by a few inches of light fresh snow. By the time I returned a little after noon, the snow was warming, the crust was softening, and some slopes were getting pretty snow-bally.
Of interest was the fact that the north side of Tinkham Peak was heavily traveled by snowmobiles today. I saw a handful of young sledders and we said hello. I honestly don't know how they got there. My best guess is that they came over the divide from Abiel Lake. Nothing illegal about it, just a surprise to find them in such steep country where I've never seen them before.
I scouted as far as Mirror Lake, which had a number of sledders playing on it, then I turned back the way I came. If this level of snowmobile traffic persists, travel conditions for the Feb 27 Patrol Race could be a lot different through this section than they were in 2014.
In 2011 (?) we were surprised to find snowmobile tracks at the saddle between Silver and Abiel, and in the bowl to the north of Tinkham. We weren't quite sure how they got there either.
author=Charlie Hagedorn link=topic=35709.msg146081#msg146081 date=1454912049]
In 2011 (?) we were surprised to find snowmobile tracks at the saddle between Silver and Abiel, and in the bowl to the north of Tinkham. We weren't quite sure how they got there either.
I've seen tracks over by Silver Peak, but never this far around Tinkham. On my return, I found that one of the sledders had followed my ski tracks most of the way to Tinkham Pass from the west. He was probably stopped from going farther by a steep traverse with bad consequences. An impressive display of skill.
Nice running into you today Lowell. We had a great day out. We ended up stopping short of our original goal of the first checkpoint beyond Yakima Pass and turned around above Mirror Lake. We dropped down to the Twin Lakes and made our way back to a car we left at Hyak. See you on race day.
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