Jazzbo
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
- Messages
- 1,197
- Reaction score
- 163
I ascended via Mt Shaw Trail to Black Snout Trail then High Ridge Trail to summit of Mt Shaw. Then descended via Banana Trail and Tate Mt Trail back to trail head. I saw Fish & Game warden patrolling on a snow mobile on the High Ridge Trail. I met up with friendly group of 3 snow mobile riders at summit. This report on snow conditions will shortly become useless with new snow event starting this afternoon. Snow was generally 3-4 inches deep at all elevations heavy and wet. I was expecting icy base so I wore strap-on crampons which were overkill for conditions. Micros-pikes or Hillsound trail crampons or bare boots would have been fine this day. Mt Shaw Trail is not blazed but was easy to follow. Banana Trail has blue blazes that didn't show up very well on this overcast day. The Tate trail had 2-tone blazes. Never saw 2-tone blazes before. Lot of extra work blazing and the blazes were plentiful. There was some icy patches descending off Black Snout, but easily negotiated or bypassed even with bare boots. GPS indicates this loop is 7.6 miles round trip. Elevation gain is 2500'+ good work out was had. Views were not bad in spite of overcast skies.
