Mount Pilchuck - Winter — Saturday, Apr. 2, 2022

The trail was damp and foggy as we set off. I had ambitions of cutting off some legs of the leisurely switchbacking gravel road, so we kept an eye to the left evaluating the density of the undergrowth for some time. About a half-hour from the car, we began to notice many subtle signs of human activity crossing into the woods and so chose to investigate. To my delight, the way forward was relatively clear, and given our many previous wilderness-navigation experiences and thus confidence, we chose to press forward, regularly confirming our bearing with our various GPS devices. This choice ultimately would save us 4 miles round-trip.

We reached the Pilchuck trailhead after about 2hrs of bushwhacking, and knew that our adventure was only just beginning. The wide expanse of parking area was berried in about 5 feet of cascade concrete, arresting our footfalls only after sinking well past the calf. Notably, the trailhead's vault toilet was unlocked and stocked with toilet paper. Following a brief consult of the map, we pressed on.

The trail itself was nearly indistinguishable beneath the luxuriant pillows of snow and ice; it's only consistent feature being the presence of slightly deeper snow shed from the towering old-growth to either side. We opted to take advantage of the firmer snow off-trail and set our own course.

The going was slow and arduous, but our toil was rewarded with clearing skies, and the ethereal "narnia trees" one finds in these wind-blown, frosted elevations. My climbing partner paused at the foot of several steep hillsides to examine the avalanche danger and decided that although there was avalanche debris present, that it was most likely from several weeks prior, and that we could safely wend our way through the more forested aspect of the hill. Ice axes in hand, we pressed on through increasingly dry, powdery snow, wishing we had chosen to bring our snowshoes, but knowing we had to continue, often taking advantage of the front point of our axes to "high-dagger" on all fours.

At last, 5.5hrs after departing the Heather Lake trailhead, we attained the summit and the fire lookout with great shouts of accomplishment. Alone, amidst the clouds.

Following our own tracks, we made quick work of the decent, reaching our car nearly 3.5hrs after the beginning our decent and 9hrs after having left the car that morning. A great send on a beautiful day. Thanks for reading and hope you had some good adventure this weekend! — at Mount Pilchuck.