zoroastr Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 (edited) Climb: Snowfield Peak - Day Hike-West Ridge? Date of Climb: 5/21/2006 Trip Report: On Saturday, the forecasts for the mountains looked kind of mixed, so Erick Johnson and I just did a quick conditioning hike up Mt. Teneriffe in the I-90 Corridor. Sunday looked better, so we planned a bigger hike. After tromping over a few miles of pretty but primitive trail up onto the Colonial Glacier, we passed under Paul Bunyan's Thumb, Pinnacle, and Pyramid Peaks... Fresh glacial meltwater has the mysterious ability to make even Cytomax taste gr8. The hike started a few minutes before 9am, and at 1pm we stopped at the col between the Colonial and Neve Glaciers, took stock of the situation, looked at the weather and the clock, and decided to press on. I had expressed an interest in shortening the trek, opting for Pyramid or one of the other Colonial-area peaks, but my fellow sloggers would have none of it. I thought they were nuts, they disagreed, we continued. As things turned out, I needn't have worried--we finished in 10 1/2 hours, arriving back at the trailhead at 7:30 p.m. after having crossed both glaciers and topping out on Snowfield. The Colonial GL. was a little broken up, but not bad... Moving fast on easy ground: the lower slopes of Snowfield Peak. We avoided the obvious gully that ran right up the middle of the face on Snowfield, opting for a direct line to the summit. Soft, deep snow on the upper face made for interesting mixed climbing as snow yielded to 4th class rock just below the summit. For the descent, we hopped into the main gully for a quick glissade. Light snow flurries on the summit caused some slight concern, but the march out was dry. Summit of Snowfield: Erick autographs the register, while Jesse surveys the sprawling expanse of the Neve glacier below. All in all, a gr8 day in the hills. Gear Notes: Boots, stick, 'pons [not really needed. Approach Notes: it's kind of a long one, and you'll gain over 8000' for the day, so start fairly early. Edited May 24, 2006 by zoroastr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainmatt Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Nice work guys! Looks like a steep slope there in the photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Did you do a lot of postholing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 No postholing whatsoever. In fact, with the exception of the soft stuff on the face of Snowfield, snow conditions couild not have been better--classic "Cascades Concrete" on the lower approach, and the glaciers were in fine shape for travelling. No one in our party brought snowshoes. BTW: the third member of our party was one of Erick's friends, a very technically capable and strong climber named Jesse, who led most of the way and whose alpine skillset was grossly under-utilized on this little jaunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Two questions... 1.)Where in god's name did you find a crack that size in the glacier? I did this tour a few days ago and did not come within 200 feet of a crevasse, and even that was on the neve glacier. There was absolutely nothing visibile on the colonial. 2.)How in god's name did you stand that tour without skis? That is a slog deluxe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 Trick for making modest crevasses look big: stand at one end, while your buddies walk around the other end.... About the skis: I've never owned any--can't ski to save my life. I really enjoy hiking, though, and since this was my first trek into the area, things never got boring. In fact, I can't wait to get back in there and line up P.B.'s Stump, Pinnacle, and Pyramid--a great 3-peak traverse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 It's a truly sweet area. THat was my first time up there a couple of days ago. When I was up there it would have been nearly impossible travel without skis, it was deep slush city! Did you see those truly bizzare crevasse ponds (for lack of a better term) at the base of the Colonial Glacier? They were clear blue ponds sitting on top of the snowpack, with cracks underneath them. It was one of the more odd things I have seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted May 24, 2006 Author Share Posted May 24, 2006 yeah...in fact, the picture I added to this T.R. yesterday is of that exact sort of pool...see above. S'funny...on Monday mornings, I usually start looking for new places to check for the next weekend, but I can't seem to shake the idea of getting right back into that same area--so many climbables so conveniently near to one another. Oh well, big weekend coming up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johozomeen Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 did you start at 9 from the trailhead? or were you camping on higher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJohnson Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 We started from the car around 9am Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.