Attempt of Silver Peak via Annette Lake on May 4th, 2025.
ROAD: The road leading to the trailhead had large potholes but doable in a regular car. The outhouse was open and had TP.
TRAIL TO ANNETTE LAKE: In good condition with some muddy sections and one blowdown to step over. Compact snow on the chute crossings and closer to the lake. The lake was still mostly frozen over with open water by the outlet. We used poles but no traction on our way to and from from the lake.
SILVER PEAK: We left the trail at about 3,650' and headed uphill through the forest. We bushwhacked for about 500' before reaching consistent snow, and stopped here to put on crampons and get ice axes out.
The snow was good for kicking steps and we made steady progress up the steep slope, eventually picking up another boot track, to gain the summit ridge at around 5,340'. We picked our way along the ridge for a little bit but at this point, weather had moved in on us with blowing sleet and snow. We were all freezing and in a whiteout, and decided that we weren't motivated enough to suffer to the summit.
Looking at the the traverse towards the summit, it looked like there would have been multiple transitions between steep snow and rock, which would have been slow going if one wanted to deal with on-and-off traction. I think it would have been better to hit this route earlier in the season while there was still full snow coverage.
We retraced our steps for the descent. One of our party (the only one in microspikes, not crampons) took a slip just as we were leaving the ridge and ended up sliding for at least a hundred feet down the slope before he was eventually able to arrest. Thankfully he was fine, but it was a reminder to bring the correct gear and know how to use it.
The snow had softened especially lower down, allowing for plunge-stepping and some glissading. We made our way back out without further incident.
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