My blue heeler and I took advantage of the stable snow to splitboard Granite Mountain (exit 47 off I-90) this morning, Feb 17, 2022. Here's a short trip report...
We left the trailhead at sunrise (about 7am) at about 1800 feet, and I was very surprised that I had to hike to about 3000 feet before I could start skiing! The trail is mostly melted out up to right when you cross the avy shoot. However, from that point on I skinned to the lookout tower. I ended up mostly following the trail, rather than going straight up the avy shoot like I did last time I was here years ago. That said, skiing on some of that trail got really annoying, so I ended up just zigzagging straight up after a while to the ridge. I then dropped in over a safer part of the cornice at the ridge, and found that the snow to the north of the ridge is much much better than to the south, with about a foot of fresh powder, as compared to a few inches to the south.
As I got near the lookout tower, the clouds parted for about 10 seconds and I got a great view of Rainier. It really was only a few seconds, and I wasn't able to get a picture. Then it got very windy and foggy, and I could barely see. So I took cover under the closed lookout, and my pup Bella and I ate lunch. After that break, I transitioned my skis into a snowboard, and dropped in!
The visibility was terrible, and the natural path from the lookout is to the right; fortunately, I got paranoid and decided to check the map. Good thing, since I would have ended up in no man's land going that way, and off trail with these snow conditions would suck. I took my board off, and hiked over to the big avy shoot (that the trail crosses), and dropped in there, keeping to the right of the chute due to the snow being pretty shallow in the middle but steep to the right. It was steep, so riding down was REALLY REALLY FUN except for a section of avy debris, and I quickly got to where the trail crosses the chute. I was surprised by a well-equipped couple who were hiking up. I gave them some quick beta and encouragement, then rode down a bit further, strapped my board to my backpack, and hiked out.
I also brought an ice axe and crampons, but didn't use them. I was able to skin to the lookout without even using ski crampons, though I did slip a bit on some steeper slopes on the way up. Fortunately, it was snow, not ice, so I could easily stop myself sliding without needing an axe. This was a fun climb and ride down, but I would never ever do this if the avy conditions weren't very favorable like they were today.
Comments
Nice send!
That's a long way to haul a splitboard uphill 😳, but glad the ride down was good ☺️.
Snowfall has been so weird and variable lately. Hopefully this weekend will change all of that.
Posted by:
ngie on Feb 17, 2022 07:42 PM
Sweet pip!
Posted by:
AndreH on Feb 17, 2022 08:00 PM
Ooops, sweet pup!
Posted by:
AndreH on Feb 17, 2022 08:00 PM