Big D
New member
I thought that Steve earning his winter 46 needed a longer trip report. We (Steve, Ed, Chris and I) left the motel early and met John at the garden. By 6:00am we were on our way to the 1st Brother, the rocks were barely covered but snowshoes helped with the ice under the snow. The views were great and the sunrise over Giant was spectacular, there were sections of bare rock mixed with ice and in the woods was drifted snow that required snowshoes. The last pitch up BS had deep snow and was very steep, by now it was snowing and the wind had picked up so it was a brief stop at the top, the views were gone. The trail down was quick and we met about a dozen climbers on the way up. We took a quick break at JBL and Chris who was suffering with a sore hip decided to take a break at the warming hut but more on that later. With one peak left Steve started out of JBL at a brisk pace. The trail was in good shape, it was a nice walk up to WJ LT with 2" of new snow and more coming down. The climb up from the LT seemed to go on forever at every turn I was looking for the summit and just saw more up. There were major sections of ice that was covered with the new snow and it took some innovative moves to get up some. I had done this a few times in the summer and it seemed easier then. A few photos and congrats to the winter 46r and dry mittens at the top and then the bonzai trip down started, it was much easier to butt slide the icy sections then to take a chance of taking a fall. We met 2 more small groups headed up near the summit and a large group of young people near JBL. We decided to celebrate with a hot chocolate at the warming hut and found that Chris had been entertaining the nice ladies there and even had time for a game of Scrabble. I found that traveling with a new 46r has perks, for we were rewarded with home made cookies along with the cocoa. (He was also rewarded with a bottle of champagne from the nice folks at the Ark Motel.)
After warming up it was tough to leave the hospitality of the warming hut ladies (we saw them again the next day at the Noonmark and tried to beg more cookies for the ride home oh well) it was a nice walk out in 6" of new powder and found our car with 10" of new snow. The ride to the motel was slow with slick roads but the hot shower,beer, Mrs big D's stew and champagne were a great finish to a super day.
After warming up it was tough to leave the hospitality of the warming hut ladies (we saw them again the next day at the Noonmark and tried to beg more cookies for the ride home oh well) it was a nice walk out in 6" of new powder and found our car with 10" of new snow. The ride to the motel was slow with slick roads but the hot shower,beer, Mrs big D's stew and champagne were a great finish to a super day.
