Baden-Powell Winter Ascent 12-29-06

I made a successful summit attempt on 12-29-06, round trip 5 hours 30 minutes. There was a significant amount of snow on the mountain and the trail was well covered.

The last 1/2 to 3/4 mile to the summit, the trail completely disappeared and I had to scramble. Toward the top, snowshoes would have worked much better than crampons.

If I hadn't been very familiar with the trail, the last section would have been difficult. I still had to just trudge waist-deep for quite a distance. At the top, it was so cold and windy that I thought I would get frostbite while shooting a photo. I think I only spent about 5 minutes up there and then hustled down.

I only passed one guy while I was going down, so I pretty much had the mountain to myself (it was a Friday). It looked like he was planning to spend the night and he didn't appear to have crampons. I definitely would not have made it without them.

I'd recommend the trail if you have crampons and are comfortable on snow/ice. Good weather is melting the snow at the lower elevations, so if there isn't any new cover soon the trail should get easier.
Good Luck!

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