Tripyramids With Great Spring Conditions, 4/23/2013

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BIGEarl

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April 23, 2013: Tripyramids

Trails: Pine Bend Brook Trail, Scaur Ridge Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail

Summits: North Tripyramid. Middle Tripyramid

Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me



Here’s a surprise; Sue is on vacation, which often means we’re hiking. I really hope Sue enjoys her vacation days as much as I do. Since the next day had an early wake-up for work, we needed to hike a target that would let us finish early; Tripyramids from the Kanc fit our timing needs perfectly. We got started a little earlier than needed but wanted to have a little extra insurance in case the conditions were difficult; and we expected difficult conditions.

We started out from the Kanc with a temperature in the mid-20’s. Overnight everything froze and we had a solid trail to enjoy. There was very little ice and the trail surface was generally crusty with great traction. We were able to bare boot the early part of the hike to roughly 2 miles. The trail became steeper and we needed some added traction. We went with MICROSpikes and the developing traction problem was taken care of.

Along the way to this point there are a number of crossings of small streams. If you’re headed out this way and you get an early start with sub-freezing overnight conditions, watch the rocks on the streams crossings, they may be covered in a wet glaze of ice. The rocks with the best footing might have a small flow of water over them.

We made the turn and started the climb to the junction with Scaur Ridge Trail. The lower part of the climb is a nice introduction to what is coming up. There are a couple small, steep pitches on the initial climb. The trail ascends to the upper and final crossing of the brook, makes a hard turn to the south, and gets very steep and icy. There is a section of side hill that requires a great amount of caution. I’m pretty sure we were pushing the MICROSpikes to their limit. Fortunately, the temperature was holding at well below freezing and the trail was solid with a good crusty surface. We had the needed traction to make MICROSpikes work for us. If it were warmer I believe we would have had problems. More than once we both thought about crampons. The trail is clearly tracked out and even though there is limited marking of the trail route it is easy to follow. Eventually, the trail pitched over and we arrived at the ridge near the junction with Scaur Ridge Trail.

From the trail junction to the North Tripyramid summit is only .8 miles but it has ~750 feet in elevation generally packed in the final .4 miles. In other words, the climb to North Tripyramid is a steep one. With almost no ice to be a concern the climb was very similar to the one we just completed. We worked our way to the steep final approach and just climbed. The MICROSpikes did their thing and we were soon standing on the first summit for the day. We did a quick time check and surprisingly found we were pretty much right on book time. With the difficult spring conditions I expected to be roughly an hour over at this point. We’re having a good day.

We got a couple summit pictures and set off for Middle Tripyramid. Still enjoying a solid tread way we were able to move well without worries about postholing. In fact, the trail was in very good condition with few postholes but I’m sure that will change over the next couple weeks.

Soon we passed the Sabbaday Brook Trail junction and were on the final .3 to Middle Tripyramid. The climb to the summit has a couple steep pitches but they presented no problem at all. I had been expecting the trail to be softening by this point but the temperature held and so did the trail. We passed the viewless viewpoint near the summit and stepped to the top for our usual summit pictures. The lack of views, cloud cover, and breeze meant there was no reason to hang around. We made the u-turn and headed back out the way we hiked in.

Re-climbing North Tripyramid from the ridge is much easier than the initial ascent. Before long we were clearing the summit for a second time and starting the steep descent. Leaving North Tripyramid got us in the right mood for our descent from the lower ridge. There are a couple steep pitches that gave us a good introduction to descending in the current conditions. Both of us managed to make our way off North Tripyramid and stay upright all of the way down.

We passed the junction with Scaur Ridge Trail and just kept moving. The upper pitch from the ridge is the less severe of the two and we generally just walked down to the small flat area, and a quick break. From there back down to the top of the brook was the tough part of the day. There are a few places where I’m pretty sure MICROSpikes were a poor choice but we used them with a great amount of care and made our way down, staying upright all the way. Eventually we reached the top crossing, relieved. We continued down to the lower crossing and were then on a final cruise to the trailhead. The final 2.2 miles are very mild terrain all the way out, loaded with small stream crossings.

By now the temperature at the lower elevation had warmed to above freezing, the snow had softened a little, and the icing on the stream crossings had vanished. We simply worked to stay on the tracked out part of the tread way to avoid postholing, and worked around the edges of the mud pits (there are some very nice mud pits on the lower part of the trail).

Roughly half-way to the trailhead Sue turned to me and asked if we could stop for few minutes. She had a serious expression on her face and I was concerned there might be a problem. Eventually the expression changed a little and I did the math. It was Snowman Time! Earlier I was thinking there would be no snowman today because of the cold conditions but everything finally changed. Warmer temperature made for soft sticky snow. Sue dropped her pack and went to work. Oh yeah, Sue made a nice one; a happy snowman on the side of the trail.

Well ahead of our plan we reached the trailhead, tossed our things into the truck, and set off for the highway south. On the way we made a quick stop at Lincoln Woods to change into some dry clothes for the ride home.

Thanks Sue for sharing another of your vacation days. We had a good one.



I’ve posted some pictures from the day.


BIGEarl's Pictures


Straight to the slideshow



:cool:
 
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I started the same hike yesterday, made it past the gully but turned around shortly after when I decided I didn't want to go down that alone and tired. Saw the snowman and wondered if Sue had been there as of course your report wasn't posted yet.

Another reason for going back was another project I had in mind. Where the trail begins the long sidehill/uphill section I had seen some flagging and an open area, so turned L going down and in a couple minutes I was headed down a main skid road. Where it was bare at first was a linear swamp but hardened up lower down, where snow covered it wasn't packed so a little postholing. Came out in log yard and followed gravel road to the Kanc within sight of my car. This might be a good high-water route as there are many fewer stream crossings than the trail.
 
Thanks for the TR, Earl. I'm looking to head out that way this weekend. :)
Knowing what I know now, if the Tripyramids were the primary importance and the route to them was secondary, I'd probably hike from Livermore. The Scaur Ridge Trail coming up from Livermore was tracked out to PBB. I'd guess trail finding is not a problem and the terrain is much friendlier from that side. I'd also guess due to the southern exposure of much of the route, there is probably much more bare ground, if it matters.




I started the same hike yesterday, made it past the gully but turned around shortly after when I decided I didn't want to go down that alone and tired. Saw the snowman and wondered if Sue had been there as of course your report wasn't posted yet.

Another reason for going back was another project I had in mind. Where the trail begins the long sidehill/uphill section I had seen some flagging and an open area, so turned L going down and in a couple minutes I was headed down a main skid road. Where it was bare at first was a linear swamp but hardened up lower down, where snow covered it wasn't packed so a little postholing. Came out in log yard and followed gravel road to the Kanc within sight of my car. This might be a good high-water route as there are many fewer stream crossings than the trail.
Yeah, I probably wouldn't want to descend from the ridge alone and tired. It's a tough section of trail under the current conditions. There's one section of ~40 - 50 yards just above the sidehill part that is a pretty good test in both directions.

I noticed a huge amount of logging had been done in the area. It's not a surprise there might be an easier way in and out right now.
 
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