Granite Mountain, Granite Mountain - Winter — Monday, Dec. 31, 2012

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

Flickr: http://bit.ly/granite-mountain-ix Got a late start waiting for REI to open to rent a pair of snowshoes since I broke the bindings on mine on Mount Persis yesterday. Friends and I took the snow gully straight up since today's avalanche danger in the area was low. The breeze felt in the gully was the prelude to the 10-20+ mph wind that would eventually accompany on the ridge all the way to the summit. Some old snowshoe/ski tracks throughout but they were too faint to follow, so we made our own. We decided to dodge the wind by traversing to the west and that helped a bit. Balaclava was definitely a great idea at this point! It was also much icier west of the rock-exposed ridge so make sure to bring an ice ax. The lookout tower was covered in pure white and the area had way more snow than a year ago. Most of the trees on top were buried in so only a few of them around to provide shelter from the wind. We stayed long enough to eat and take photos then started making out way down the mountain. What a glorious day on the first day of the year!