Cool by Wattifoto, on Flickr
Strapped on our spikes and headed up the regular trail. Nice hard-packed crunchy snow for maybe about half a mile, then the deep stuff set in.
Don't Slip by Wattifoto, on Flickr
Just past the bench, the snow became too deep to really even find the trail so we headed straight up the ridge, following a single set off bootprints at times, creating our own at others. By our count, there were exactly 7 people (including us) on the mountain yesterday.
Slow Going by Wattifoto, on Flickr
Quick question: I'm pretty new at this type of winter hiking... Is this post-holing?
Deep in It by Wattifoto, on Flickr
It was far more tiring than I thought it'd be heading up in these conditions, literally knee deep in it for most of the route.
Again, I can't say enough about the Kahtoola microspikes, so long as you occasionally tap them w/ your poles to prevent snow from building up. That being said, this is probably the most ambitious hike I'd be comfortable using them on. As we topped out to the ridge leading up to the summit, hard snow and ice the rest of the way, combined with pretty steady, strong winds. I was able to dig in just enough with these little spikes...
Nice ice sculptures decorated the trees on the ridge:
Wind-sculpted Ice by Wattifoto, on Flickr
The final push was slow going, but epic as hell (for we beginners, anyway
):
Final Push by Wattifoto, on Flickr
The views at the top were absolutely stunning, the photos don't quite capture it:
Baden Powell Summit by Wattifoto, on Flickr
(lol at the monument poking through)
Pine, Dawson, Baldy by Wattifoto, on Flickr
Don't know what else to say, but what an awesome hike this was.
Many more photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/ ... 713264759/
Thanks for reading/viewing 8)
