PackMule
New member
After going after attempting the Dix range in may ways many times and being denied many many times Jason Deluca and I finally conquered our last remaining winter peak. Hough was our goal and we decided to maximize our chances of getting it by going over Dix rather then taking Lillian Brook.
We started out late from a packed parking lot hoping that we get a break and not have to break trail through the heavy wet snow. We quickly caught the group of 8 in front of us to find virgin snow all the way to Hough. There were faint tracks from some folks that came in the night before so it was not so bad.
We decided to take the slide on the advice of some joker who has no clue what blowdown is. We were informed that if we thought the blowdown on the way in was bad, the trail up the slide was 10x's worse. We took the rt slide to the top and then starting cutting over toward the trail. The snow had a real firm surface in places but one misstep and we would go crashing though. Finally meeting up with it below the summit.
We quickly passed by the summit on our way to Hough. There was a faint trail from someone the day before that was right on the money. It did crash through some trees and such but it is a real good route and easy to fallow. We made it to Hough in decent time and spent about 30m on top enjoying not view what so ever.
Both Jay and I took out our signs took a few pictures and had some lunch. After the winds picked up a bit we headed down deciding to go back over Dix and out round pond. On the way back over we ran into a guy in the group of 8 who also got his W but it was on Dix. Congratulations to him.
Just in time, as we got back to the Beckhorn the clouds started to clear and the sun came out and we got some awesome views of the Range and Giant/RPR.
We decided to take the traditional trail down Dix rather then the slide. We think it was a better choice, the butt sliding was awesome. I think other then Allen this is one of the best butt slides in the peaks.
We got out at just about 7:00, it ended up being a longer day then we had thought but we felt good the whole trip back finally finishing up our Winter……
From the sounds of it there will be quite a few in this years class. Congratulations to every who has finished up this year.
We started out late from a packed parking lot hoping that we get a break and not have to break trail through the heavy wet snow. We quickly caught the group of 8 in front of us to find virgin snow all the way to Hough. There were faint tracks from some folks that came in the night before so it was not so bad.
We decided to take the slide on the advice of some joker who has no clue what blowdown is. We were informed that if we thought the blowdown on the way in was bad, the trail up the slide was 10x's worse. We took the rt slide to the top and then starting cutting over toward the trail. The snow had a real firm surface in places but one misstep and we would go crashing though. Finally meeting up with it below the summit.
We quickly passed by the summit on our way to Hough. There was a faint trail from someone the day before that was right on the money. It did crash through some trees and such but it is a real good route and easy to fallow. We made it to Hough in decent time and spent about 30m on top enjoying not view what so ever.
Both Jay and I took out our signs took a few pictures and had some lunch. After the winds picked up a bit we headed down deciding to go back over Dix and out round pond. On the way back over we ran into a guy in the group of 8 who also got his W but it was on Dix. Congratulations to him.
Just in time, as we got back to the Beckhorn the clouds started to clear and the sun came out and we got some awesome views of the Range and Giant/RPR.
We decided to take the traditional trail down Dix rather then the slide. We think it was a better choice, the butt sliding was awesome. I think other then Allen this is one of the best butt slides in the peaks.
We got out at just about 7:00, it ended up being a longer day then we had thought but we felt good the whole trip back finally finishing up our Winter……
From the sounds of it there will be quite a few in this years class. Congratulations to every who has finished up this year.
