Granite Mountain - Winter, Granite Mountain — Saturday, Apr. 5, 2025

I hiked granite Mt. via the winter route. Trail had avalanche debris on trail once the trail reaches the first avalanche gully. from here I headed up the winter route. (I spoke with a few people who said the summer route was snowed in for most of the route past the avalanche gully.)

The winter route was snow free until about 3,800 elevation. The snow was soft but not too difficult to hike wearing spikes. Once I cleared the tree line, I was able to find a snow free route up the ridge until near the summit. It turned to full snow near the summit, but it was firm enough that I did not post hole.

There was too little snow to have any serious avi danger on the way up. However, there is a massive cornice at the summit so use caution if you go past the fire tower.

On the down route, I was able to find a line of snow that went down from the summit almost the whole way back to the winter route cut off. The snow was in great condition for a fast foot skiing descent. I did some laps up and down in the Alpine to get extra vert and more glissades down the fun snow section.