Trip: Arrowhead Mountain - East Ridge Trip Date: 03/25/2018 Trip Report:
With everybody headed to Stevens to get some good powder time in, we headed a little off route towards Arrowhead Mountain. The avy danger was moderate and Arrowhead seemed like a nice jaunt for the weekend.
We parked a little past the overpass on the same side of the train tracks in a small snowed-in pullout. The long walk on the railway tracks started around 8 AM and half way to our fork, we even saw a freight train go by. Our fork was about 1.5 mi from the car and noticing the crusty snow conditions, we cramponed up to start climbing up around 8.45 AM. The steep yet uneventful climb to the east ridge was uneventful. However, one of our teammates did decide to put on snowshoes after we came across powdery snow. The others still stayed with the crampons to keep the torture going . Following the snowshoe tracks as much as we could, we got to the last part of the climb (5000’) around 11.45 AM. The snow only got powderier, but it did have a solid layer underneath if you were kicking good steps. After all the huffing and puffing, we were standing on tall on the summit having smoked Gouda and admiring the views all around along with the imposing and ominous clouds overhead at 1.15 PM. There were some recent ski tracks clearly visible too.
When it started getting a little too cold, we left the mountaintop and made good time plunge-stepping all the way down to the railway tracks by 3.15 PM. If we hadn’t summitted, the slow and monotonous walk along the tracks would’ve been unbearable. The car first came into view around 4 and we knew we were home bound.
Overcast but fun nonetheless!
Trip times:
Car to summit - 5 hours
Summit to car - 2 hours
For Arrowhead Mountain GPX, Arrowhead Mountain Peakbagger TR.
For more visuals on the route, Flickr/Arrowhead Mountain.
just keep on grinding
views from the 6
on the way down
what happened to public transport?
Gear Notes: Crampons, snowshoes and a penchant for kicking steps in knee deep snow! Approach Notes: The pullout is snow free to park.