Red Mountain #1330

Red Mountain

Started out at the PCT with Flint, John and Carrie at Snoqualmie pass at 10:00 am and was surprised to see a good 7 feet of snow at the trailhead. I thought the beginning of the trail would have less snow. Slowly started climbing into the Common wealth basin with Kendall peak on the right and Red mountain to the left. Crossed commonwealth creek on a narrow snow bridge and started to climb along a ridge to the saddle at 4900 ft. Above the saddle the snow was deep and soft due to lack of freezing. Got to the top at 1:30pm to overcast skies, and drizzle. Ate a quick bite and glissaded down to the saddle in 1 minute. We started small slides during our glissade which was a bit unnerving but it wasn’t too bad.

Dropped down in a gully instead of the ridge and followed a creek to commonwealth basin where we crossed the creek again. Saw a couple of skiers but that was it. Snow should be more consolidated after this warming/freezing cycle this week. Snow in the forest was packed from skiers.

Gold or Silver hikers