Snow Lake - Winter, Source Lake - Winter Route, Snow Lake & Source Lake — Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026

For me a healthy dose of fear was needed to do this safely as I’m no pro on this winter terrain. Was definitely a learning experience (lessons below). Took advantage of a low avalanche risk day and this weird winter to do a hike I doubt I’d have done in a normal one. On the way to both lakes there were signs of what looked like previous mini avalanches. My crampons were definitely worth their weight in gold today and poles helpful too.

I’ve never been on a hike before that had so many frozen waterfalls and icicles. These are seen on the way to both Source Lake and Snow Lake. Source Lake was surrounded by a whole bunch of frozen waterfalls coming off the surrounding peaks. After the junction with the trail to Source Lake, there were two times in switchbacks where it was difficult for me to identify the trail looking up, and I started to go into questionable terrain. One was the first switchback after that junction. The other was the last switchback heading down to (first switchback heading up from) Snow Lake. My gps map was super handy in helping me spot the right way. Mostly the snow today was compacted and icy except bits around Snow Lake where it reminded me of walking on a sand dune. It was absolutely bizarre to reach the overlook and see no one else there. It was more bizarre to not see or hear a single other person for the entire hike down to and up from Snow Lake.

Very thankful to have experienced this winter hike and making it safely back to my car. 8.5 miles, 2300ft, 5hr day.

Top 3 lessons learned:

-Even well laid trails turn into scary potentials for long slides when covered by snow that often turns icy

-Can’t always trust the path created by someone before us because they may have been using different gear or have a different goal in mind

-If I want to do a hike like this in winter again, I need to invest in an ice axe and skills to use one.