Snowshoeing the Enchantments Lakes

[RokIzGud]

Has anyone snowshoed the Enchantments Lakes trail in the winter? Im just trying to find a good multi-day trip for around January 1st. Im not looking for anything that is technical enough to need a rope... Any ideas will help, thanks!

Edited December 16, 2009 by RokIzGud

[Bug]

It is done frequently when avy conditions are OK.

http://www.nwac.us/

There are many bad avy slopes both (all) ways in.

[Pete_H]

where the fuck is the enchantment lakes trail?

[G-spotter]

Pete, if you did any roped snowshoeing you'd know the answer to that.

[Pete_H]

I usually just snowshoe boulder and solo. I don't like being held back by a cord.

[montypiton]

Please, if Pete's post is not "tongue in cheek" just everybody keep quiet... it already is hopelessly overused... at least in snow season we don't need reservations and permits... yet...

Edited December 16, 2009 by montypiton

[Pete_H]

Seriously, I know where Stuart Lake TH is, I know where Mountaineers Creek TH is, I know where Snow Creek TH is, I know where Ingalls Lake TH is, I know where Esmerelda Basin TH is, but I don't know where Enchantment Lakes TH is.

[RokIzGud]

Thanks everyone. Sorry Pete, I should have been more clear. Im talking about starting at the Snow Lakes TH and ending at the Lake Stuart TH (or the other way around). This might be a bit much for a snowshoe but maybe not.

[Bug]

Don't apologize to Pete. You will only encourage him.

 

The trip you are asking about is totally reasonable in safe avalanche conditions. It would be a great trip.

 

Coming out the Stuart Lk TH would mean coming down Asgard pass.

It is very steep. Cliffy in places. You have to pick your route carefully. Or watch this board closely and see who is doing climbs on Dragontail. They will all come down Asgard pass. PM them about the route down the pass. Most people here will be happy to share information. Also watch avy conditions and weather forcast.

 

So the list is:

Get good beta from people who have recently traveled the steep parts.

Follow avy danger and weather for a few weeks before your trip.

When things look good, boogie. Don't ask for bootpack beta down Asgard pass and expect it to be useful a week later.

[RokIzGud]

Awesome, thanks for your help, Bug.

Edited December 17, 2009 by RokIzGud

[DPS]

I have done the Enchantments lake loop as a trail run and have often thought it would make a good ski (or snow shoe) tour. In the summer this took 6 hours and change. In the winter I would think 3 days since you have to hike/ski the road Stuart Lake trailhead.

 

I think it would be perhaps easiest to start at Stuart Lake trail head and exit Snow Lakes trailhead (at least on skis). Avalanche conditions would be the key thing as there would be multiple slopes that would be threatened.

[Bug]

I agree with DPS.

Except you might want four days up there to allow for some peak bagging.

There are a few non-technical peaks up there.

You could even do the back side of Dragontail without getting into any technical climbing.

[dennyt]

A silly story for your reading pleasure (grab a drink, it's a bit wordy):

 

Megan had to work a few hours on Christmas day, to earn comp time for a future trip. So, faced with a 2.5-day weekend, clear skies, and no new snow, the first idea that popped into our heads was - Enchantments Through-Hike. Scramble Dragontail while we're at it. I've never done the through-hike, and she's never been up Dragontail, so this was perfect. Go!

 

We left Megan's house around 12:30pm on Friday, Christmas Day. Megan was sporting a new sleeping bag and a jet boil, me a new sweater for the car ride and fleece for the trip. The subaru cruised up Lake City Way to Hwy 2 - I'm working on getting better gas mileage, so I wasn't about to backtrack or go out of my way just to drive 70mph... let's take the shorter, 35-55mph route. No hurry

 

Rolled into the snow creek parking lot, stashed my bike for the optimistic chance that we would complete our through-hike in two and a half days, and continued up the road in the subie. Parked at the bridge creek campground, 1900', and were walking up the closed road by 3:30pm. Upon further examination, there was 4" of snow on the ground, so turned back and left the snowshoes in the car. Make that a 3:45 departure.

 

Strolling up the snowmobile track, making good time, we ascended through fog as the daylight faded. The waxing half moon was up, and as the sky darkened I thought my eyes were losing some pixels - I kept seeing bright specks of light near my feet. Eventually, they were everywhere - moonlight on big fat 1/4" hoar frost crystals. We put headlamps on at the trailhead, and continued up a bomber bootpack all the way to the lake. Arrival time 7:45pm, 17 degrees F, 5700'. We hastily set up camp on the near shore of the lake, began making cocoa and dehydrated dinner and setting up a time lapse photo, and hopped in the tent.

 

We slept surprisingly well considering the temperatures, and had a nice breakfast inside the tent. 12 degrees outside, but no wind, and damn if it wasn't beautiful. Rays of light and hundreds of feet of sun-kissed spin drift coming off the spires of Dragontail and Colchuck. My boots went on with a crackle, time to move!

 

Hating the idea of the dreaded boulder-hop around the west side of the lake with a few inches of snow on it, I hacked away at the lake ice to check its thickness. 2" at shore, 6" 20' out. That'll do. We started across the lake with pack straps unbuckled (just in case one needed to drop 30 pounds fast...), stepping gingerly across two or three tension cracks, which showed up nicely in the snow, no more than 1/4" gaps. I rationalized that this was just a side effect of the ice getting colder & stronger, contracting and cracking. We made it across just fine, and with a sigh of relief

 

Starting up Asgard pass, conditions were great - a solid firm crust, almost hard enough to require crampons. But the 25mph southeasterly up top had been dumping spin-drift down the pass. Halfway up, to the right of the larches, we hit the first bit of wind. I switchbacked off an ice crust area and started kicking steps, deeper, deeper, 8" deep, maybe got 20 steps into it and THUNK, fell to my hands, why is my peripheral vision blurring? F, F, SWIM, we bear-crawled (fast) up the slab as it slid down the hill, like running up the down escalator, and it slid to a stop just as I reached the top. We regrouped, unharmed but a bit shaken. While this was probably just some local deposit of wind-slab, it had been indistinguishable before stepping onto it. The snow went from 2" deep to 8" deep in about 20 feet, and that was enough of a load to fail the slab and shoot cracks 50 feet in both directions. The slide only went about 100 feet, but the debris kicked off a bigger slab directly below the central cliff band. I started up the 'ridge crest' with the thinnest layer of snow to see what it was like above, but soon started shooting cracks again. The sick feeling in my stomach made it clear - this was not a game I wanted to play today. The pass only got steeper and we were just starting to hit the wind-loaded areas. I was pretty sure we would be caught in something bigger if we continued up, so we turned around.

 

The sun never hit the lake, but it did shoot cracks between my feet on the way back across. "Megan, is the lake cracking under your feet?" Nope... guess I need to lose 60 lbs.

 

It was a beautiful hike back through the woods, with sunset light at midday - oh winter solstice. It would have been so great to be in the sun up top, but judging from the now quarter mile of spin drift coming off the top of Dragontail, the wind would have taken the fun out of it.

 

The last half mile of the closed road is apparently the official sledding hill of Leavenworth - it was packed! We made some coffee and changed clothes at the car, retrieved my bike, and pulled out a stuck WRX (18" z-rated tires don't work so well on ice). After the obligatory Munchen Haus stop, we were back on the road towards town, listening to Dirtbag Diaries podcasts, happy to hear tales of worse predicaments.

 

It's been hard to get shut down 3 times this winter - ice on South Early Winter Spire (class 3 lead fall, ouch), snow and a sprained ankle in Red Rocks, and this. But it is winter, and we are home, safe and warm. And scheming... anyone want to climb some ice next weekend?

[dennyt]

The photo I mentioned:

 

[Pilchuck71]

Awesome photo!

Good story too.

Cheers.

[RokIzGud]

Wow awesome pictures and story, thanks! That makes me want to try it even more!