Bombadil
Active member
2-22-13
Big thanks to peakbagger (dennis) for helping me out with a car spot this morning! I started up Valley Way at 7 am wearing snowshoes and quickly passed the couple of groups that had been nicely packing down the fresh powder. One barebooter had been through early morning/late night and looks to have had himself quite a workout with many deep postholes but they were fine for traveling over with snowshoes. Within 45 min or so I was overheating and stripped to my baselayer...surprisingly I stuck with wearing just a baselayer for the remainder of the hike--the weather was that good!
At the hut we were still socked in the clouds and I initially wore snowshoes up through the trees to Madison because the fresh powder hadn't been broken out yet then I switched to crampons (which I kept on til Pierce). Microspikes may have been a better choice as crampons were a little awkward at times with all the rock hiding under fresh powder. Up at Madison the views were amazing at there was a solid undercast up to 5k with a brilliant blue sky, I'll have to post photos in a TR in the coming days. I took Airline to Adams, crampons or microspikes would both work.
I broke trail to Jefferson and tried to stick to ice/scoured slab but often found I had to break trail through knee deep powder with the heavy powder deposits in the leeward areas. This slowed me down a bit getting to Edmands as well as up above the snowfield traverse on the loop. Above that, it was easy crampon conditions with a lot of water ice in and around the trail. Just as I hit the summit I met hiker Ed for the first time who on the spot was finishing his 2nd round of the grid since turning 60, pretty neat. I saw a handful of familiar faces en route to Washington where it seemed as though a couple dozen people had come up Ammo/Jewell and were doing loops. I stuck with crampons in this section but snowshoes would have been a fine choice too as there was a lot of lightly consolidated snow and virtually no ice/bare rock. Crampons would be a prudent choice if venturing along Gulfside to the Washington summit as there was a lot of water ice and the snow was quite firm by the top of the Great Gulf Trail. It was pretty toasty in the sun with calm winds, most people were without hats, gloves, and saw a few shortsleeve shirts as well in that section of Gulfside.
From Washington I shortcut the Crawford Path and headed down the firm snow/ice filled snowfields to intercept the trail lower down and the bony/icy trail definitely did a number on my ankles and knees with the lack of snow. Similar theme heading over to Pierce as there was a little powder on the trail but it usually was only good for covering up rocks. I regretted not bringing my spikes a little bit for this section. One note on the trail between Eisenhower and Pierce, the snowshoe track leaves the trail a few times when very deep drifts were encountered which could be a little confusing. I barebooted down Crawford Path from Pierce since it was well tracked and seemed to take my weight well which worked out well for standing glissades. This was my 2nd winter traverse and my first one solo. I was super pleased to complete it in 10 h flat (5 pm finish) given the trailbreaking and somewhat mediocre snow/trail conditions, but the weather more than made up for that as everyone out there today was blessed with some great eye candy with the undercast and blue skies. Big thanks to those that broke out Jewell to Jefferson and Crawford Path up to Pierce
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
Big thanks to peakbagger (dennis) for helping me out with a car spot this morning! I started up Valley Way at 7 am wearing snowshoes and quickly passed the couple of groups that had been nicely packing down the fresh powder. One barebooter had been through early morning/late night and looks to have had himself quite a workout with many deep postholes but they were fine for traveling over with snowshoes. Within 45 min or so I was overheating and stripped to my baselayer...surprisingly I stuck with wearing just a baselayer for the remainder of the hike--the weather was that good!
At the hut we were still socked in the clouds and I initially wore snowshoes up through the trees to Madison because the fresh powder hadn't been broken out yet then I switched to crampons (which I kept on til Pierce). Microspikes may have been a better choice as crampons were a little awkward at times with all the rock hiding under fresh powder. Up at Madison the views were amazing at there was a solid undercast up to 5k with a brilliant blue sky, I'll have to post photos in a TR in the coming days. I took Airline to Adams, crampons or microspikes would both work.
I broke trail to Jefferson and tried to stick to ice/scoured slab but often found I had to break trail through knee deep powder with the heavy powder deposits in the leeward areas. This slowed me down a bit getting to Edmands as well as up above the snowfield traverse on the loop. Above that, it was easy crampon conditions with a lot of water ice in and around the trail. Just as I hit the summit I met hiker Ed for the first time who on the spot was finishing his 2nd round of the grid since turning 60, pretty neat. I saw a handful of familiar faces en route to Washington where it seemed as though a couple dozen people had come up Ammo/Jewell and were doing loops. I stuck with crampons in this section but snowshoes would have been a fine choice too as there was a lot of lightly consolidated snow and virtually no ice/bare rock. Crampons would be a prudent choice if venturing along Gulfside to the Washington summit as there was a lot of water ice and the snow was quite firm by the top of the Great Gulf Trail. It was pretty toasty in the sun with calm winds, most people were without hats, gloves, and saw a few shortsleeve shirts as well in that section of Gulfside.
From Washington I shortcut the Crawford Path and headed down the firm snow/ice filled snowfields to intercept the trail lower down and the bony/icy trail definitely did a number on my ankles and knees with the lack of snow. Similar theme heading over to Pierce as there was a little powder on the trail but it usually was only good for covering up rocks. I regretted not bringing my spikes a little bit for this section. One note on the trail between Eisenhower and Pierce, the snowshoe track leaves the trail a few times when very deep drifts were encountered which could be a little confusing. I barebooted down Crawford Path from Pierce since it was well tracked and seemed to take my weight well which worked out well for standing glissades. This was my 2nd winter traverse and my first one solo. I was super pleased to complete it in 10 h flat (5 pm finish) given the trailbreaking and somewhat mediocre snow/trail conditions, but the weather more than made up for that as everyone out there today was blessed with some great eye candy with the undercast and blue skies. Big thanks to those that broke out Jewell to Jefferson and Crawford Path up to Pierce
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
