Having been to Surprise lake in January, Randy and I decided to do it again, taking others interested in getting a good workout. So there were four of us departing Scenic in a snow-free parking area. We packed up the snowshoes, hiked the visible trail with icy puncheon and finally were able to put on the snowshoes after 1.5 hours of leaving the trailhead; elevation 2754'. We then continued up west of Surprise creek following GPS waypoints from our previous trip as there were no tracks to follow. At 3340' Ron decided to wait in some trees, between avalanche slopes, because of exhaustion from continued post-holing. Gail, Randy and I continued on through many previous avalanches debris slopes and then up the very steep, treed slope to the ridge by the lake. We got to the lake at 1300 in high winds and blowing snow. After finding a sheltered area we had a quick lunch and headed back down. We got back to Ron, who patiently waited for 3.5 hours but was beginning to worry since I had told him only two hours. A couple of walkie-talkies might have come in handy! No cell service out here. We all continued down in difficult, softening snow, crossing steep and slippery slopes. My temperature gauge read 35°F. We had blue sky going up but now it was threatening to rain. Despite a few light showers along the route we reached the parked vehicle totally dry at 1645.
It hovered above freezing most of the day but the wind made it bitterly cold at the lake. Take plenty of extra clothes, trekking poles, good water-proof boots along with the snowshoes. The icy parts of the exposed trail were difficult as we did not have traction devices. Recommend wearing traction devices until putting on the snowshoes.
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