Outing to Mt Daniel
Mark Griffith
A "spring" trip to Mt. Daniel during winter conditions.
Pictures here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/niffgurd/sets/72157604179882822/
Trip report written by another fellow in our party :
-----------------------------------
A trip via snowmobile to a remote trailhead followed by snowshoe
backpack into the high country.
Our goal was Cathedral Rock, Peggy's Pond and Mt Daniel. Three others
along for the adventure – Schmidt Alti-Babe (Tisha), Schmidt Alti-Dude
(Jeremy) and Mbgriffi (Mark). We had planned on going the previous
week but the poor weather forced a 1 week delay. Fortunately, we had
all arranged time off for both time slots. Got away from North Bend
just after 6:30am Friday morning, towing 2 snowmobiles, cargo sled and
a lot of gear in the back of the truck. After turning up the road to
Salmon La Sac, light snow began falling. Took awhile to offload the
snowmobiles, load the cargo sled chock full of packs, snowshoes,
crampons, poles and clothes. Made it to the "summer" trailhead via
snowmobile by 10:30am and 13 1/2 miles of cruising at 15 – 20mph down
the snow covered road. After stashing the machines in the woods, we
were tromping thru the deep snow by 10:45am. At least 6' of snow on
the footbridge as we crossed over the Cle Elum River.
Impossible to follow the buried summer trail, so we just headed due
west until the ridge steepened. Up, up and up thru soft deep powder
on the tree covered hillside. We tossed in a few short switchbacks
when the powder became too deep to attack it directly. A big relief
for the legs as we crested the ridge just south of Squaw Lake.
Snowshoes sinking 12" to 18", more on a few of the ascending
traverses. Definitely not Spring conditions though it was the first
official full day of Spring!
Arriving at the base of Cathedral Rock, we decided to stay up higher
with 50 yards horizontal separation between us. Very little snow on
the rock face above us but there were some mini snow slides below our
traverse line. Cloudy and cool temperatures. No signs of rock fall.
Initially the snow was good and I was able to kick nice deep steps
across the 40° slope. Unfortunately about 1/3 of the way across, the
snow started to transition to packed snow or ice with 1" of snow on
top or posthole snow or you name it. It seemed like every 3' the snow
completely changed character. Brief bad icy spot halfway across but I
was able to ease my way over it with the ice ax rammed into it. I
cautioned Mark about it before I continued on. He found a better line
30' lower and yelled the info back to Tisha and Jeremy. Not sure of
our transit time across the face, but we were all glad to be past it.
Plowed thru deep powder snow again as we climbed back up the final
200' to Peggy's Pond.
We all needed a break but the deeper than expected fresh snow had
slowed our ascent from the trailhead so no rest just yet. Spent some
time searching out a nice sheltered spot with plenty of room for the
tents and seating area. Quickly stomped out a big area for the tents
in the fading light (perhaps a little too quickly, not perfectly
level). The snow had finally stopped but the temperature began to
fall as the sky started to clear. High teens then but it dipped to
around 13° during the night. The cold temperatures affected the stove
fuels so we weren't able to melt as much snow as we would have liked
for drinking water. I had carried up 4 1/2 quarts of water/Gatorade
which turned out to be just enough for the round trip.
Very little wind during the night but clear, cold, and mostly blue
skies greeted us in the morning.
We sorted thru our gear, lightening the load for our summit attempt.
It was so cold one of Tisha's contacts snapped in half while she was
trying to put it on. eek.gif She had a back up pair but needed to
warm up the lens for awhile so they'd be delayed a bit. Mark and I
headed up the ridgeline, breaking trail thru 12"-18".
We were glad to see Tisha and Jeremy an hour later as they caught up
to us. The four of us continued to ascend the open slopes. Scenery
was amazing with heavy snow draped on the ridges; soft morning
sunshine casting long shadows. Finally gained the crest of the ridge
and continued up to 7100' where the ridge narrowed down. At that
point, we couldn't continue on due to lack of time. Well, time was an
issue, but the ridge line to the summit had too much exposure for us.
Cornices to the right and hard icy snow with huge steep slopes to the
left. From our spot, it looked like the bump below the East Peak
saddle would have been exciting.
The views from here were well worth the trip though.
Glacier Peak to the North, Mt Stuart to the East, Mt Rainier South,
rugged alpine peaks to the West. Surprising and disappointing amount
of smog/haze smeared the far horizon. The wind started to pick up a
little as we plunge stepped down the ridge to camp. So easy to take
nice big steps, cushioned by 18" of powder. Too soft to glissade and
no skis/snowboard so we just enjoyed a fast paced 35 minute tromp down
to Peggy's.
Quickly packed up camp as we were all anxious to get back across the
traverse before the day warmed up any further. From our vista on top
of the SE ridge during our descent from Daniel, we had looked at the
traverse and spotted what appeared to a better line than our entry.
200' lower on the face with no cliffs for at least the first 1/3 of
the way across. Needless to say, we wanted to get across as fast as
we could. Unfortunately, the steep sidehill with varying snow
conditions slowed our traverse. I ran into a cliff band halfway
across where the face rolled away from view and yelled back to the
group to forget about trying this line. There wasn't any break in it
as it extended up and down the slope for 200' or so. We'd just have
to drop another 400' in elevation down towards Deep Lake where the
slope lessened. Mark found a good descent route and Tisha and Jeremy
followed him down using their crampons too. Would have been much
quicker and safer to just drop all of the 600' initially on leaving
Peggy's Pond (and on the entry).
Sun was very warm as we slogged our way up thru the trees on a gentler
slope back to Cathedral Pass. A welcome break at the top where we
enjoyed the last of the amazing views and finished off most of our
water supplies. Weary legs carried us back to Squaw Lake to our
drop-off point straight down the ridge. The deep steps we had cut on
our way up wouldn't hold our feet on the descent so we resorted to
breaking trail downhill next to our upward track. Icy in places down
lower in the trees and I was very glad to let the legs unwind on the
short 1/2 mile flattish segment back to the trailhead.
Jeremy and I snowshoed another couple hundred yards to the concealed
machines and rode back to the trailhead. Loaded all the packs into
the cargo sled and took off into the fading light. Arrived back at
the truck just as darkness fell (not a problem as the snowmobiles have
headlights). Easy 1 3/4 hr drive back to North Bend.
Roundtrip stats: 27 miles on the snowmobiles, 10 miles on snowshoes
with 5300' gain (includes extra 600' drop towards Deep Lake). 7 1/2
hrs up to Peggy's, 2 1/4 hrs from Peggy's to 7100', 5 3/4 hrs from
Peggy's back to TH.
--
Mark Griffith
http://www.niffgurd.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/niffgurd/
Barentsen, Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: baile...@googlegroups.com [mailto:baile...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mark Griffith
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:10 AM
To: Mark Griffith
Subject: Outing to Mt Daniel
Howdy:
A "spring" trip to Mt. Daniel during winter conditions.
Pictures here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/niffgurd/sets/72157604179882822/
Trip report written by another fellow in our party :
-----------------------------------
A trip via snowmobile to a remote trailhead followed by snowshoe backpack into the high country.
Our goal was Cathedral Rock, Peggy's Pond and Mt Daniel. Three others along for the adventure - Schmidt Alti-Babe (Tisha), Schmidt Alti-Dude
(Jeremy) and Mbgriffi (Mark). We had planned on going the previous week but the poor weather forced a 1 week delay. Fortunately, we had all arranged time off for both time slots. Got away from North Bend just after 6:30am Friday morning, towing 2 snowmobiles, cargo sled and a lot of gear in the back of the truck. After turning up the road to Salmon La Sac, light snow began falling. Took awhile to offload the snowmobiles, load the cargo sled chock full of packs, snowshoes, crampons, poles and clothes. Made it to the "summer" trailhead via snowmobile by 10:30am and 13 1/2 miles of cruising at 15 - 20mph down the snow covered road. After stashing the machines in the woods, we were tromping thru the deep snow by 10:45am. At least 6' of snow on the footbridge as we crossed over the Cle Elum River.