M
mountainvisions
Guest
Date of Hike: Sun 3/28/10 to Mon 3/29/10
Trail Conditions: Sunday loosely packed powder over a firm base on way up. Some post holing was present, but none experienced by this 200lb (w/pack) hiker while in bare boots. Put on snowshoes mainly for traction (and to lighten my pack) at 2500ft when it steepened a bit to Gray Knob. The snow was simply beautiful in quality and quantity. I was amazed!
From Gray Knob to Crag and up Spur to treeline trail was mix of powder over hard pack, above treeline snow covers the cairns so trail is essentially windblown snow of a line of your choosing. In my judgement crampons should be used over the windblown hardpack crust.
Monday changed things a lot. Descent from Gray knob was wet and granular, not too icy but things should have iced up by now (rain followed by overnight freezing temps, followed by foot traffic/glissades). We glissaded the whole way down in bare boots. No post holing over the trip down. Snow also wasn't so pretty; dirty, muddy and covered with pine needles.
One word of caution, the trail from almost all elevations is covered with at least 3 ft of snow, above 3000ft it gets to be like 5-6 ft. This means that if you carry a pack with a high rise to it, or you are tall, you will be tearing through branches and limbs. Also, in parts the trail is literally through the tree tops, meaning it is almost like an easy bushwhack.
Special Equipment Required: Below treeline snowshoes or light traction, above crampons should be used. An ice axe (and ability to use it) would be useful above treeline, it is hardpacked crust up there, and even pure ice in spots. Microspikes are not suitable for this terrain, and because of the crust, snowshoes aren't needed.
Comments: Along with 2 RMC officials I helped participate in the rescue of Adam Soholt. It was believed he was at the rim of the King Ravine from initial reports (and AVSAR & NHFG SAR also believed he was up high till they entered the ravine and ascended). It turned out he had fallen about 1/3-1/2 way down the headwall. Because I had my dog, I turned around at 5000ft above the Spur Trail, the RMC people continued for a little ways but conditions were poor, 40mph+ winds, blowing snow, and limited visibility.
my account of the trip, and some photos can be found here:
www.mvpress.net
Trail Conditions: Sunday loosely packed powder over a firm base on way up. Some post holing was present, but none experienced by this 200lb (w/pack) hiker while in bare boots. Put on snowshoes mainly for traction (and to lighten my pack) at 2500ft when it steepened a bit to Gray Knob. The snow was simply beautiful in quality and quantity. I was amazed!
From Gray Knob to Crag and up Spur to treeline trail was mix of powder over hard pack, above treeline snow covers the cairns so trail is essentially windblown snow of a line of your choosing. In my judgement crampons should be used over the windblown hardpack crust.
Monday changed things a lot. Descent from Gray knob was wet and granular, not too icy but things should have iced up by now (rain followed by overnight freezing temps, followed by foot traffic/glissades). We glissaded the whole way down in bare boots. No post holing over the trip down. Snow also wasn't so pretty; dirty, muddy and covered with pine needles.
One word of caution, the trail from almost all elevations is covered with at least 3 ft of snow, above 3000ft it gets to be like 5-6 ft. This means that if you carry a pack with a high rise to it, or you are tall, you will be tearing through branches and limbs. Also, in parts the trail is literally through the tree tops, meaning it is almost like an easy bushwhack.
Special Equipment Required: Below treeline snowshoes or light traction, above crampons should be used. An ice axe (and ability to use it) would be useful above treeline, it is hardpacked crust up there, and even pure ice in spots. Microspikes are not suitable for this terrain, and because of the crust, snowshoes aren't needed.
Comments: Along with 2 RMC officials I helped participate in the rescue of Adam Soholt. It was believed he was at the rim of the King Ravine from initial reports (and AVSAR & NHFG SAR also believed he was up high till they entered the ravine and ascended). It turned out he had fallen about 1/3-1/2 way down the headwall. Because I had my dog, I turned around at 5000ft above the Spur Trail, the RMC people continued for a little ways but conditions were poor, 40mph+ winds, blowing snow, and limited visibility.
my account of the trip, and some photos can be found here:
www.mvpress.net
