Mt. Constance

[JasonG]

Headed up there this weekend with a couple of friends. Road is washed out 3.5 miles from the trailhead so we had a bit of road slogging to start it off. Lugged snowshoes but didn't need them as the snow was well consolidated the whole way up. Camped saturday night and climbed the north chute and finished via the finger traverse on Sunday. We had some attention getting traversing both on the way up and on the way back down via the terrible traverse (we pounded a few pickets in places). All in all the route is a lot more of a challenge when plastered in spring mush. Ice underneath the new snow (2-4 inches) meant we had to wear crampons even though they balled up constantly. Kind of a pain but a beautiful area and a beautiful climb. That trail is pretty damn steep though . . . .

[Rodchester]

Hmmm..sounds like you might be implying that a ranger told you a lie...or at least made it sound WAY worse than it actually is.

 

Seems I've heard that once or fifty times before.

 

Any one else have this problem?

[Norman_Clyde]

Good for you guys. I called the forest service a few months ago, and they told me the road was washed out 6 miles from the end. I thought the Constance trail was about a mile before the road end, so I was figuring on about ten extra miles for this climb-- but 7 miles is not as bad, still maybe shorter than starting at Tunnel Creek.

The rangers also said that the washout was so deep it was unsafe even to climb into it, much less haul a mountain bike. Sounds like you guys did not have difficulty crossing. Is it possible to haul a bike across?

[Mike]

I was on the trip with Heinie and we wished we had brought bikes for the trip out. Two ways around the washout:

(1) trail cut into the slope above washout marked with flagging

(2) Descend to river bank and scramble along river - also marked with flagging

Option 2 is probably the better bet for lugging a bike.

 

The washout is pretty impressive. About 100+ feet of road has been replaced by a gaping pit about 20' deep with a high bank forcing you down to the rivers edge or 100' above the washed out road.

[David_Parker]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike:

I was on the trip with Heinie and we wished we had brought bikes for the trip out. Two ways around the washout:

(1) trail cut into the slope above washout marked with flagging

(2) Descend to river bank and scramble along river - also marked with flagging

Option 2 is probably the better bet for lugging a bike.

 

The washout is pretty impressive. About 100+ feet of road has been replaced by a gaping pit about 20' deep with a high bank forcing you down to the rivers edge or 100' above the washed out road.

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That'll keep the riff-raff out!