PackMule
New member
Trail Conditions:
Trail was completely unbroken from start of the TR to the summit of Carson. Deeeeep snow in many areas. I used snowshoes all day except for one section where I was forced to use crampons on the higher part of the slide, my hiking partner just used MSR snowshoes all the way up.
Equipment:
WATER, FOOD and tons of time and determination.
The small 2 car pull off was not really plowed so we parked 0.8 miles down the road south of the bridge. We started at about 6:45, having never gone this way in either the winter or summer we were very unfamiliar with the route. We got some track logs from Andrew (which were a great help). We used the track logs to get up under way and fallow the general herd path. When we got within about a half mile of the slide we just took a compass line to the base and bushwhacked. This is how our day pretty much went for the remainder of the trip. We were moving pretty slow due to the snow depth and just fumbling to find a good route. We hit the base of the slide and though we would be able to make some good time, but were wrong. It took us almost 2 hours to get from the base of the slide to the top. The worst section was the last few hundred yards. That probably took close to an hour to plow through the snow and spruce traps. We took the left slide rather then the right. Don’t know if that was a good or bad idea but it got us there. After we got to the ridge we had hope that the trail to Carson was broke b/c we saw what looked like fresh tracks. Turns out they some how avoided being covered by the wind blown snow. We enjoyed the awesome views for a few minutes and with having Hough (and my W46) in mind we decided to push on.
We left the summit at 1:45 and just hacked and bushwhacked our way over to a peak that didn’t seem to get any closer no matter how hard we pushed on. It took us very close to 2 hours to get to the top of Carson. By that time it was 3:40 and we were both gassed.
We decided it was best to head back and save my 46 and Jay’s 45 for next weekend
.
The trip out took for ever and a day. Though the trail was broken, our tracks wander quite a bit. I think it took us about 20-30m to get back to Grace and about 20m down the slide. The trip from there was long and slow. About an hour after leaving the slide we took out head lamps and finished up in the dark.
The best thing in the world was seeing car lights on 73 and we knew we were home free. We hit the road a bit after 8 and trudged back to the car.
Both myself and Jay have been hiking for quite a few years (him longer then me) and we both agreed that this was by far the longest and hardest hike we have ever been on. The views were awesome and the day could not have been any better to almost get my W.
Just a warning for those who may fallow this route, it is ugly and tough but it will get you to the summit of both mountains.
Trail was completely unbroken from start of the TR to the summit of Carson. Deeeeep snow in many areas. I used snowshoes all day except for one section where I was forced to use crampons on the higher part of the slide, my hiking partner just used MSR snowshoes all the way up.
Equipment:
WATER, FOOD and tons of time and determination.
The small 2 car pull off was not really plowed so we parked 0.8 miles down the road south of the bridge. We started at about 6:45, having never gone this way in either the winter or summer we were very unfamiliar with the route. We got some track logs from Andrew (which were a great help). We used the track logs to get up under way and fallow the general herd path. When we got within about a half mile of the slide we just took a compass line to the base and bushwhacked. This is how our day pretty much went for the remainder of the trip. We were moving pretty slow due to the snow depth and just fumbling to find a good route. We hit the base of the slide and though we would be able to make some good time, but were wrong. It took us almost 2 hours to get from the base of the slide to the top. The worst section was the last few hundred yards. That probably took close to an hour to plow through the snow and spruce traps. We took the left slide rather then the right. Don’t know if that was a good or bad idea but it got us there. After we got to the ridge we had hope that the trail to Carson was broke b/c we saw what looked like fresh tracks. Turns out they some how avoided being covered by the wind blown snow. We enjoyed the awesome views for a few minutes and with having Hough (and my W46) in mind we decided to push on.
We left the summit at 1:45 and just hacked and bushwhacked our way over to a peak that didn’t seem to get any closer no matter how hard we pushed on. It took us very close to 2 hours to get to the top of Carson. By that time it was 3:40 and we were both gassed.
We decided it was best to head back and save my 46 and Jay’s 45 for next weekend
.The trip out took for ever and a day. Though the trail was broken, our tracks wander quite a bit. I think it took us about 20-30m to get back to Grace and about 20m down the slide. The trip from there was long and slow. About an hour after leaving the slide we took out head lamps and finished up in the dark.
The best thing in the world was seeing car lights on 73 and we knew we were home free. We hit the road a bit after 8 and trudged back to the car.
Both myself and Jay have been hiking for quite a few years (him longer then me) and we both agreed that this was by far the longest and hardest hike we have ever been on. The views were awesome and the day could not have been any better to almost get my W.
Just a warning for those who may fallow this route, it is ugly and tough but it will get you to the summit of both mountains.
