Home > Trip Reports > June 25-26, 2016, Goat Rocks via Snowgrass Flat

June 25-26, 2016, Goat Rocks via Snowgrass Flat

6/25/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
6063
6
Posted by Onward. on 6/27/16 4:26am
Had a great weekend touring in the Goat Rocks. It was our first time splitting in the area. This area certainly deserves more than 1 night for proper exploration but we made the best out of the time we had.

I removed the photos since they didn't show up but here's a link to them instead: https://goo.gl/photos/ermxEUDsgrv3QN1w9

Left the Snowgrass TH at 9:15am Saturday and had camp setup above Snowgrass Flat at about 6300€™ by 11:30 or so. Some fun blowdowns to manage with overnight packs and ski gear. Patchy snow didn€™t start until we were pretty close to Snowgrass Flats and we didn€™t don skins until about 6100€™. Once we did we skinned up a couple hundred feet and managed to find a nice dry spot for a campsite right at the edge of timberline.

We skinned to where the PCT crosses over the Old Snowy ridgeline then scrambled to the summit of Old Snowy. We then found a spot to drop in just below the summit and had a beautiful 2000€™ run down the McCall. The turns were creamy and not too too sticky despite being slightly overcooked. Skinning back out the McCall basin was beautiful.

We had minor shenanigans trying to make a loop back instead of returning the same way we came that forced us to downscramble a bit to continuous snow, but for those in the know and/or with more time there are several ways to link both sides of the Old Snowy/Ives ridge. There€™s gobs of great terrain on the east side of the ridge from both Old Snowy and Ives Peak and also the terrain on the Packwood Glacier looks marvelous as well. Now back on the west side, we rode slushy snow back to camp and drank stashed beers and ate dinner and watched the sunset paint Mt. Adams a variety of colors.

The next morning we skinned straight up the gut to the the saddle just north of Ives Peak. The original intention that morning was to drop over to the east side one more time, skin back up, then ride the ascent slope back to camp, but with tired legs and a leisurely mindset from the get-go we decided to just chill take in the views and ride back to camp. We rode the 1200€™ back to camp on probably the best corn of the day (~11am) before packing up and heading out.

On the way up Ives we ran into a fellow TAY€™r (or I should say rather that he caught up to us!). Good to meet you Matt! Hope you got some good beer photos!

Wildlife note: We saw a bear on Saturday working its way up snowy slopes on the west side of Ives Peak and definitely saw bear tracks on snow in several places in the alpine area above Snowgrass Flat. WTA also had a TR from a hiker who had a significant cougar encounter a week or so ago (and not the good kind of cougar encounter).
[on my end your pics aren't showing up and I bet they are great]

Nice to meet you both, thanks for letting me tag along. I should have ridden McCall side but didn't feel right messin around over there solo for my level of risk tolerance. Sorry I didn't get back down to give you beers.. I fooled around and went over to a rock outcropping after skiing half way down to go get more photos, ya'll took off pretty quick.

btw I asked for ID on the big tracks up higher in the snow and consensus was cougar/mountain lion, not bear, based on lack of claw prints esp and gait/straight line of tracks.


Duly noted on the tracks, I was wondering. Not sure if the pics are a problem for others, I can see them from multiple devices.... bah technology

I love the Goat Rocks and especially the area around Snowgrass Flats. Sounds like a great trip.

Images aren't showing up for me either. It could be that they're hosted on Google and they aren't set to public? Or it could be that google doesn't allow hotlinking. I'm not sure but I definitely can't see the images.

I removed the images and added a link. Thanks for letting me know they didn't work.

Great TR!  Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the great TR. I was camped inside the huge split boulders and waved at one of you from them Saturday night. I went up and repeated your Old Snowy run on my Mtn Surfs when you both skinned up to Ives. McCall basin looked sweet, but I was the only guy on skis in my group, so sided on the side of caution. I want to go back in late July...hopefully there will be east side snow still left? The Goat Rocks are heaven to me.

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june-25-26-2016-goat-rocks-via-snowgrass-flat
Onward.
2016-06-27 11:26:01