Mailbox Peak - Old Trail — Friday, Jan. 2, 2009

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Mailbox is challenging from the start. The parking area is filled with fresh snow on top of hard ice; we got our AWD sedan stuck and spent an hour digging out tire trenches to escape. Most parties were parking at the intersection about 1/4 mile before the trailhead. The trail up to the point it breaks out of the forest consists of a few inches of snow on top of hard ice. Crampons were helpful (we wore them from the car to the summit and back). From there, deep powder is encountered up and over the boulder field and to the summit. Some postholing on the boulder field, a little on the final pitches, not as troublesome as some years. Snowshoes might have been better a few places, but overall I was happy with the crampons. Snow seemed stable enough; we saw no evidence of any slides. Ice axes highly recommended for safety on the final pitches. The mailbox and summit are deeply buried. Summit quite cold and windy; down parka etc required. The going is slow: ascent time nearly 4 hr (in summer we take 2 hr or a bit less); descent much quicker, about 2.5 hr.