Teneriffe Falls, Mount Teneriffe — Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Overall 10.5mi RT 1350m ascent. Kamikaze Falls, Mt Teneriffe, Teneriffe Road. Announcement about the Cascades: Weather conditions change rapidly, particularly on ascents, and you should be prepared for contingencies. Announcement about winter: We lower the sun to the horizon much earlier. Today's official sunset was 4:38PM. With trees and ridges to the west, sunset may come earlier. Dusk in a forest is darker than its city/openroad/desert counterpart. Announcement about trails: Trees and branches will be down. Feel free to move small branches if you are able, as that will prevent erosion from bypass trails. And now an announcement about trail etiquette: After the first deep snow has fallen for the year, Use Snowshoes. This hike was an view into how not to hike in the Cascades in winter. The entire trail up from the falls, and good deal of the road was fouled. The existing snowshoe track was destroyed by a group of five young men in the morning who punched holes the entire way to the summit. Even on the remaining few 8" wide sections of the snoeshoe track, the surface was solid enough to stand with snoeshoes; off to the side, the snow was fluffy enough to fall in a couple feet. Unfortunately, that single group was able to destroy the entire trail. The trail was intact before they passed me going up the spur, so there were no other culprits. So much for the ankles. Here's a similar report of destroyed trail: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2016-02-02.0478121222 That group of five had very little gear, if any. They were not prepared for any contingency, and didn't even have traction. Another pair ascending the road had no snowshoes either, but at least were carrying sufficient gear otherwise and had plenty of daylight. Two college-aged couples were at 2500ft on the road at 1330, claiming they were targeting the summit, and moving around 1mph. They said they had been hiking for two hours, which would have put them at 1.5mph before that. Given snow depth on top (considerable drifting on the north face), they would not have arrived until 1600, having to walk the entire return in the dark... with very little gear. One ice axe, one with gaiters, and one huge camera. "He doesn't have the best boots", no spikes, no poles. Met another young couple ascending from the Mt Si parking lot, around 1700ft on the road, hiking "about an hour". With 4.6mi and 3000ft ascent to go, at a solid 2mph they would have made it to the summit around 1600. They were much better equipped, however, so they may have made the summit and returned in the dark.