SummitPost.org

Went to the Bighorn range yesterday and did a day trip on Hesse Mountain at 10,285ft. There's no trail and we'd received a heavy spring snow season, so the 2 mile bushwack through lodegpole pine forest consisted of postholing through 5ft snow drifts. We decided to climb the top of the granite spine that runs up the west ridge and then do that traverse to the summit. It was great 3rd-4th-and a few 5th class moves on a nice sunny breezy day. Stayed in my base layer the whole time. There were a few snow ramps we had to traverse but the snow was solid on the west face as we were on it in the morning. Overall, it was a great trip that we turned into an 8 miler.