Teneriffe Falls, Mount Teneriffe — Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

10mi 1375m ascent. Kamikaze Falls to Mt Teneriffe; descent via Teneriffe Road. Unfortunately, recent visitors opted to destroy the upper trail by wearing boots, and nothing else. The last two miles of the ascent was, therefore, fresh powder, which was very fluffy, sitting atop a fouled mess of random postholes. Off trail, the powder was at least three feet deep and not optimal for making an ascent. I created the trail for all of the last 3mi except the upper 300ft, when two guys I had seen in the parking lot finally caught up with me. Let's just say that the last 300ft of ascent, following in their snowshoe prints instead of making my own, was significantly easier. At the summit, they too noted that hiking had been considerably easier before they passed me. In other words: WEAR YOUR SNOWSHOES on summit approaches. I had intended to visit Blowdown on the return, but decided against it given the ascending trail conditions. That was a good choice as I exhausted my water supply five minutes before reaching the parking area.