? re drivability of Icicle Ck. Rd . .

[Jonathan]

Hey,

 

How far up the rd can you get in a regular AWD type car?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

[DPS]

Bridge creek campground.

[catbirdseat]

The road is plowed to that point.

[DPS]

After that it is not plowed.

[Juan]

Still plowed to that point?

 

Thanks,

 

John

[slaphappy]

Yes.

[layton]

hardly any snow either...but off trail it's a nice crust and powder for seriously awesome postholing!!!

 

for extra suckage: bring snowshoes to work the quads, psoas, anterior tibialis, and wrist extensors.

[Juan]

Hmmm. Hey Michael -- have you been up there in the last two weeks? Is it a major pain to get to the lake, then up Aasgard? It was a big drag in late Nov.

 

Thanks much,

 

John

[layton]

i went up snow lakes trail, not colchuck. i "bet" there's a decent bootpack to the stuart lake/colchuck lake branch point, then a pain in the ass. snow lakes trail had a great bootpack up to snowcreek wall, didn't go any further. off trail travel blows, and awesome ankle traps in the talus. plus it just snowed up there.

go for it, but allow some extra time. are you going to do prussik?

[Juan]

Hey Michael:

 

Thanks for the update. We were thinking of something on Dragontail, in which case we might go part of the way up Aasgard, and likely down it.

 

The ankle trap thing is a concern for sure. It just sucks to have a big pack and not be certain of your footing in the bouylders. Unfortunately, the forecast is not great for the west side of the range, which is making us think of something on the east side.

 

We'll see what the weather brings.

 

Cheers,

 

John Sharp

[layton]

just allow a little extra time for the "hyper-wallowing alpine snow hippo mega stumble"

[L0ngpause]

Is bridge creek road drivable yet? I mean in a non-4wd. If not now, WHEN.

[DPS]

Bridge creek road usually opens up in the spring.

[L0ngpause]

Not a very usual year though. What about with a snow machine?

[Alex]

You can take a snowmobile up there, but to be honest having done that one trip I and my partners didnt think it saved all that much time...perhaps an hour, in the grand scheme of things. If you're a team of two with minimal gear it might save you 2 hours.

 

But considering that the bulk of the work is really the 5.5 miles into the Lake, the 1-2 hours saved is minor. Usually, ppl do Triple Couloirs etc in a day car-to-car when the road has started melting and you can start parking a mile from the summer TH and rely on an established boot track into the lake.

 

Just a thought

[slaphappy]

How is saving at least 25% of the approach time to the lake not worth it?

[Alex]

The time's I've gone into the Lake in "real" winter conditions (breaking trail with overnight packs), the road was always the easiest part, perhaps an hour or hour and a half up on skis and skins or snowshoes, while the actual trip from TH to Lake was on the order of 6-7 hours. So while the distance might be 25% of the sum total, the time being 25% of the sum total is optimistic, I think.

 

But like all things I guess your mileage may vary. We just didnt find the sled that useful on that particular trip.

[DPS]

Having been into colchuck lake a dozen times in the winter, one of those times with Alex on his snow machine, I can say that walking the road is trivial compared with the rest of the approach. Its an hour or so walk or ski. No big deal.

[slaphappy]

blah blah blah. I wasn't speculating, I have also done it both ways, although it's never taken me 6.5 hours to get to the lake, better conditions I assume. I'll take the sled over walking the boring ass road everytime, I guess I'm just fat, old, and weak.

[L0ngpause]

I agree, you are old and weak. Well, if there is enough snow, why don't you just take me on the machine to the base of the route. I think that would be best.

[slaphappy]

I'll show you old and weak... you, you ,you...feline hater!

[Ade]

Sleds are aid. One of the great things about the Cascades in winter is how big and remote it feels. Leave the sled at home and have an adventure.