eternalX Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 IS there much snow up there right now? Thinking about taking the girl up there and she doens't have any boots. Any other advice/suggestions. It'll be her first quasi-alpine experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 It was pretty snowed up about a month ago (July 4 weekend), and it's been hot as Hades here for the last several weeks. I imagine there's still a lot of snow, but nothing that I wouldn't consider taking the kid on. Â Bring along a spare pair of shoes and change of socks for her. Bread bags make good waterproof barriers to keep feet from getting cold. Â Which way you heading in? Trail should be pretty dry from NF Tieton to McCall Basin now. Again, my beta is close to a month old now. Mebbe someone else who's been there more recently will chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalX Posted July 30, 2004 Author Share Posted July 30, 2004 Was planning on hiking in from snowflats trailhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 That direction is pretty wide open and has a (mostly) western exposure, so most snow should be gone by now below 7,000. A month ago, via NF Tieton River trail to PCT to McCall, it was clear and dry to about 6,000. Â Now, I would say that you could expect clear sailing to about 7,000. It's just a short skip above that to the summit, as you must know. I think you'll be just fine going in that way. How old is the kid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 I took my son up there when he was younger. It is a solid day from the car...for a kid. There might be a couple of snow crossings above Snowgrass Flats, but not a problem for tennis shoes this time of year. About 10min above the PCT/10min below the top is a very short (20ft) section of class 2-3 where kids and more timid folks sometimes turn around. I would bring a short rope, depending on you child's confidence level. Â Also, avoid the temptation to do the boulder-fest directly up from Snowgrass Flats. Stay on the PCT and turn right above the saddle. Nice views of Curtis-Gilbert/Conrad Glacier ....which we climbed this last summer. Â Have a great trip! Flowers will be out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluck Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Trail is a highway to Snowgrass flats... one very small snow field to walk across on PCT, but short and not steep.......trail to summit of Old Snowy is easy to follow. Â Info as of 8/1/04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Trail is a highway to Snowgrass flats... one very small snow field to walk across on PCT, but short and not steep.......trail to summit of Old Snowy is easy to follow. Info as of 8/1/04  Thanks, cluck. I was thinking about doing a solo link-up of Snowy, Ives, and CG this weekend, as the wife and kid will be visiting my in-laws, and I'm in need of a peak-bag fix or some other form of vertical entertainment.  Sorry to hear about Cluck's abduction. Glad to hear you got your gear back, at least. Fuckin' criminals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluck Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 sobo... my reason for being up there Sunday was similar to your description. Â Had a free day (no family obligations) and all my climbing partners were otherwise occupied. Since I was hyper not to waste a perfectly good Summer day and had never been up to Goat Rocks....thought I would go check it out. Â I only did Old Snowy and Ives. Figured I would save CG for a time with a climbing partner so we could also scramble up some of the sub summits over by CG. Have heard Becky calls 'em 4th class but others think they may go at 5.4-5.6 and I didn't want to free solo choss at that grade. Â Traverse over to Ives was the most interesting part of the trip. Chose an interesting path on one Gendy traverse. Dropped down into a deep ass moat at a crumbly headwall that required some crap climbing and chimney moves to get to the other side (actually kind of fun as the west side of the ridge in that place was tedious talus tettering). Â I started at trail head for Snowgrass flats and round trip time was 6:40 minutes (I trotted about 2 miles on the way out) so linking them up solo in a day is easily doable. Heck, I spent more time in the car getting to Goats from PDX and back than I did out hiking/scrambling. Â Good news is that I didn't get eaten alive by skitters but of course your luck with the blood suckers may vary. Â RIP Cluck. We will miss the little fowl-mouthed, hard ass climbing, species-confused bastard. Â Have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Was planning on hiking in from snowflats trailhead. Â From the summit of OS, I could see that the only snow from Snowgrass Flats is a short patch on the PCT before you reach the summit trail. Inconsequential. Â Headed out to Ives, but looked again at the watch, thought about family and shit, and bailed off the east side into another drainage basin which was two basins south of my approach. Â Long story short, I got back to the tent in less time than it took to summit from it, but got way mored scared-ass shitless as I downclimbed two steeeeep trundle gullies with nasty run-outs while trying to avoid waterfalls. Following water courses is not always the best method to lose elevation. Â Eventually I chose wisely at my contour point, and held elevation on an elk trail around the east flank of a large unnamed peak, and eventually came out in the basin south of McCall Basin. Easy stumble down the peak and up over the ridge into McCall. Found my beer in the stream, enjoyed it, and headed out. Knees and quads hurt right now. Â Great views of Adams, Helens, Rainier, and the Big Horn group. Clear day, coolish in the breeze, and flowers were abundant and awesome. Skeeters weren't bad at all at night, but watch out for biting black flies during the hotter parts of the afternoon. Â A guy came up from Yakima (50 years old or so) and said he left the NF Tieton River trailhead at 8:45 Sunday morning. He arrived at the summit just after me at 12:15. Said he ran a lot of the way up to McCall Basin. Three and one half hours to cover about 7 miles of trail, then 2 miles of boulder tripping and shwackin', and almost 5,000 feet of vert! Â Didn't have nothin' on but his Merrell's (sort of - a hydration pack was all he carried from what I could tell). He came back through McCall at 4:00 pm. At his rate he was probably out of the parking lot by 6:00. I only hope that I'm in that good of shape when I turn 50! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalX Posted August 13, 2004 Author Share Posted August 13, 2004 How long is the hike from the trailhead to Snowgrass flats? Was planning to arrive at like 2pm and hiking to snowgrass that afternoon. that should be plenty of time, don't you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluck Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 What I read said 4 miles to junction with PCT.... Trail is darn near flat for most of the way and a highway. I made it in little over an hour on a day hike crusing pretty quick. Approach is a breeze, even with a full back pack, can't imagine it being more than 2 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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