Set out to do some ridge line with a buddy of mine, and that's what we got today. The Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) said today was the calm before the storm, and with low risk of avalanches we headed to the hills. Be sure to check NWAC before venturing out, even the trek to Mason Lake takes you through avalanche terrain. Yesterday morning was safe, today is not and you should not be out there.

We used ice-axes and crampons for this hike. There's bits of snow at 3,500ft and deep snow by 4,000ft. Putrid Pete's Peak and the traverse to Defiance require an axe and crampons. Defiance via Mason Lake could be done with micro spikes. I would not recommend Bandera without an axe due to the excellent glissading.

Ira Spring connector trail is in good shape. The lower portion of Putrid Pete's Peak was fine, it progressively gets harder to follow and steeper up the switchbacks.

The last few hundred feet to PPP is steep and the snow has been wind scoured. There's plenty of rocks sticking up and ice here and there. There were a few areas where it would have been difficult to self arrest before running into rocks. At the top is was windy and low visibility.

We opted to skip Webb because of conditions as we couldn't even see it from PPP and started in on the traverse to Defiance. This started out not so great. I found it easier to go a bit lower than my friend did. Slow going either way. There was some evidence of a boot path. Eventually the ridge line mellows out and it becomes really nice. We postholed a few times through here.

The route up Defiance was mellow, I hardly knew we were there. There were a set of tracks from someone headed off the north from the summit (Dissident Point??). We didn't feel like back-tracking so we just headed down to the south-east and tried to stick to the ridge. We found some other bootprints that went down the ridge and we made in a similar direction. The snow in through here had an unpleasant ice layer just bellow.

Eventually we ran into the main bootpath leading from Mason Lake. Very pretty back there, totally snow covered. We followed the path to the high point on the Ira Springs trail. 

Rather than descend, we headed cross country for Bandera. This wasn't too bad, the snow cooperated, and once we got a few hundred feet from the trail the trees opened up. Eventually we intersected the bootpath and headed for the "top". The weather was deteriorating, wind and snow made for low visibility. We opted not to make for the true summit and started our way down. 

Snow was in great condition here for heal plunging and we made great time. Lower the wind subsided a bit and we glissaded to about 4,000ft where we rejoined the Ira Spring trail.

There's interspersed snow till about 3300ft, where there is avalanche debris covering the trail. Few if any fallen trees over the trail lower on.

I hiked up to Putrid Pete's Peak yesterday. I got started around 2:30. The Ira Spring connector trail was in good shape. I didn't see any signs of recent usage. There's a talus field crossing with posthole soft snow. That should have been where I turned around, realizing what P3 would be like this late in the day, but I stupidly/stubbornly kept going. At a certain point, I decided I don't want to descend this, so I thought maybe I could traverse the ridge and descend from Web to Dirty Harry's Museum. That didn't seem possible with the narrow, cornice-covered ridge. I finally made it to the top around 6:30.

The summit of P3 is quite tiny and I knocked my backpack off while taking pictures. It tumbled down the slope and was luckily stopped by a tree. One of my water bottles flew out and looked like it was gonna fly down the whole mountain. I carefully recovered my backpack and the items that flew out of it. I was absolutely shocked when I saw my water bottle barely snagged by a tree a few 100' below my pack. It was incredible luck, both of the tree tops were in the middle of open slopes.

Once I got to the soft, loose snow that gave me so much trouble on the way up, I rapidly glissaded down it. I would stop periodically to let the avalanche pass by me. I got totally soaked but it was really fun. It was hard to use my phone with wet fingers to check the map. I glissaded down too far and it was a bit of a steep bushwhack to meet up with trail almost halfway down the switchbacks. It's always such a relief to get back on proper trail.

It was much too late in the day to attempt it with the warmed up, slushy, steep snow once the switchbacks ended. I broke trail up P3, I hope someone gets a laugh out of my interesting route choices. I really don't know why I kept going. Reckless and naive I suppose. I'm still fairly new to hiking and I know that I have a lot to learn.

Only five cars in parking lot at 11:00 am. The first 45 minutes of the hike was snow free. Snow gradually got deeper and deeper as we hiked. Just before the top of the hike near the lookout we had to turn around.. We did not bring snow shoes and the trail was no longer broken by other hikers . We tried moving forward but post holed up to our hips. We had planned on hiking to Mason Lake. 

Nice loop today going up to Putrid Pete’s Peak, traversing over to Web Mtn, going down to Dirty Harry’s Bathtub, and then hiking back to exit 42 via Dirty Harry’s Peak, Balcony, and Ira Spring Connector trails.

First time for me starting from exit 42. There is a nice spot to park at the end of the road, just off the on/off  ramp to I-90. It was nice to not drive the long pot holed road to Ira Spring trailhead.. Trail starts at the end of the road. Right away, after the bend, there is a trail that heads to the right. Don't take this one, as it ends up at a fire pit and some old used shotgun shells. Just after a creek crossing(there is two logs lashed together with a handrail) there is a fork in the trail. Take the right fork if you want to head up to the Ira Spring trailhead. Take the left fork if you want to connect with the Ira Spring Connector trail just short of the Putrid Pete's Peak(PP3) trail.  I took the right fork and headed up. Trail follows the creek( Mason Creek maybe) up to the road and then you walk about a tenth of a mile to the trailhead. Starting down on exit 42 adds about 3/4 mile and 550 ft of elevation gain to the hike

At the first switchback I took the faint trail(Ira Spring Connector trail) and after about a mile from the trailhead I took the PP3 trail up to the summit of PP3. The first part has a few switchbacks and is not that steep. There is one section that had about 4 large trees that have fell across the trail, which involves climbing over them. Once out in the open around 3800 ft the trail just goes straight up 1400 ft up to the summit. There are some loose rocks that can easily be kicked down on other hikers, so beware of this heading up on a crowded day. Once near the summit it is a easy scramble up to the top. The summit register is missing a cap, so the paper is wet, even though it is double bagged.

Was only at PP3 summit for a short time before heading over to Web Mountain. The traverse is pretty easy with minor scrambling and some side hilling. It is best to stay below the ridge, as the north side of the ridge is pretty much straight down. Once at the summit block, head around to the left and come up from the west. It is easier as coming from the SE will involve a lot more scrambling with some possible exposure,

After Web summit visit, I headed down the spine of the ridge until I hit a rock outcrop. I descended down into the bowl to my right staying in the trees as much as possible to avoid all the talus. I did have to go down some talus to get to more trees, and then once in the trees, I found a faint trail. I lost it a few times, but for the most part it closely followed a drainage down to Dirty Harry's Bathtub. The Bathtub are was cool. There was still water and the area was a bog, even late in the season in this very dry year.

After this I followed some cairns that led to the trail down to DIrty Harry's Peak(DHP) trail. Also my GPS (ONYX software) showed the trail. This made it easier to navigate. Trail was in great shape until getting down close to the DHP trail, where it became pretty overgrown for the last 0.25 mile.

Once back to the  DHP trail it was smooth sailing back to the Ira Spring connector trail. This trail has LOTS of ups and downs. Not too fun at the end of a long hike!!. Just past the PP3 trail, I took the trail to the left that took me back to the car. Not sure if it was any quicker, but it was a nice trail, and I had never been on it before.

Fun adventure. Started at 8:16 am and finished at 1:51 pm

10 miles with 4400 ft elevation gain

Sections of the road to the Ira Spring TH are bad with potholes. Various auto parts along the way remind one to take it slow.

Brush was still wet at 9am as I made it over to the P3 junction. I enjoyed the switchbacks while they lasted then the steep part begins. Once out of the trees, the gain backs off a little. The views from P3 are great and well earned.

I headed west over to Web remembering to stay below the ridge which is where the main (class 2) path is anyway. I took a break on Web for lunch. I seriously considered looping around by toward Dirty Harry's by dropping off the ridge at 5200' into a long talus slope but I chickened out (maybe next time in the opposite direction). Instead I headed back east along the ridge, past P3, and was half way to Defiance when I decided to just return the way I came up instead of the long loop by Mason Lake. The P3 descent wasn't much quicker than the ascent in the steep part but the dry conditions were ideal (& got to see this slope in the afternoon for a change).

7.2 miles, 3340' gain, 6 hrs. on trail + 1 hr lunch