joegrim - Jan 23, 2007 5:35 pm Date Climbed: Jan 20, 2007
A Bald Mountain Snowshoe
Frédérique, Bob, Frank, and I started snowshoeing from the Blue Lake Trailhead at 9:00 am (and 13°F) and headed up Long Draw Road 2 miles to the 2nd intersection with the Long Draw Ski Trail. (The road was nice and packed from all the snowmobiles who had gone up and down the road in past days.) From there, we headed steeply off-trail toward Bald Mountain; it was slow going, but with our topos and GPSs, we made it to right where we wanted at timberline (about 500 vertical feet below the summit), where we reached a large 40 degree slope of pure white snow. Despite the low avalanche danger, we still opted to play it safe and take the rocky route around on the northwest side, that was a bit steeper, but had 0 risk of avalanche. Here we removed our snowshoes and pushed steeply up to the summit, reaching it at 12:23 and 22°F with fair skies and nearly no wind! It felt balmy! We then headed down and shortly after heading down, we were surprised to hear a woman scream. We went in the direction of the scream to check things out, and found two snowshoers who said they were just "having fun". On the way back down, we headed cross-country to the Meadows Ski Trail and followed that down to the Long Draw Ski Trail, down to Long Draw Road and the Blue Lake Trailhead. It wasn't a perfect weather day, but I'd guess better than 95% of winter days, so I am very happy!
joegrim - Mar 16, 2008 5:30 pm Date Climbed: Mar 15, 2008
CMC HikeA great hike! For more, read our trip report.
joegrim - Jan 23, 2007 5:35 pm Date Climbed: Jan 20, 2007
A Bald Mountain SnowshoeFrédérique, Bob, Frank, and I started snowshoeing from the Blue Lake Trailhead at 9:00 am (and 13°F) and headed up Long Draw Road 2 miles to the 2nd intersection with the Long Draw Ski Trail. (The road was nice and packed from all the snowmobiles who had gone up and down the road in past days.) From there, we headed steeply off-trail toward Bald Mountain; it was slow going, but with our topos and GPSs, we made it to right where we wanted at timberline (about 500 vertical feet below the summit), where we reached a large 40 degree slope of pure white snow. Despite the low avalanche danger, we still opted to play it safe and take the rocky route around on the northwest side, that was a bit steeper, but had 0 risk of avalanche. Here we removed our snowshoes and pushed steeply up to the summit, reaching it at 12:23 and 22°F with fair skies and nearly no wind! It felt balmy! We then headed down and shortly after heading down, we were surprised to hear a woman scream. We went in the direction of the scream to check things out, and found two snowshoers who said they were just "having fun". On the way back down, we headed cross-country to the Meadows Ski Trail and followed that down to the Long Draw Ski Trail, down to Long Draw Road and the Blue Lake Trailhead. It wasn't a perfect weather day, but I'd guess better than 95% of winter days, so I am very happy!