Decided to take my chances with the weather on this cloudy, wet Saturday. Set out for Mt. Pilchuck, not too sure on the conditions as it had been a while since the last trip report. Man does this road suck! Prepare for a slow-going, winding road up to the trailhead, took me ~30 minutes with a high-clearance AWD. There is mostly no snow on the road to the trailhead, with the exception of some snow/ice spots towards the top.
Hike up through the 1st mile was pretty wet; gaiters and my rain jacket were helpful here. Also, you’ll want to be sure to have waterproof boots for this one. Seems like an elementary thing to be writing, but most the other hikers I saw were in tennis shoes, more on this later. Some icy spots towards the very beginning of the trail, but the 1st mile was snow-free with lots of running water.
Once into the boulder field, where the trail heads East, the drizzle turned to frozen rain and eventually to a full snow closer towards the top. This is also where the trail begins to be covered in snow. I ended up putting on my micro-spikes shortly after this section, once the trail really breaks out of the woods.
Snow conditions seemed a bit more stable than weeks past while in the section before the final push through the woods to the summit. There was a definite new layer of ~2-6” on top of a compact, harder snow, and somewhat icy base. I felt comfortable traveling through this section and up to the summit with my micro-spikes. Crampons would have been better for traction, although not required. I did pull out my ice axe for this section and kept it until the summit. Was again surprised to find no other hikers equipped with an axe.
The route up to the summit is pretty well defined, at least until the next big snow. It was a little difficult at times to select between someone’s earlier ascent verses a glissade, but most trails converged back to the same. Route up tracks essentially the same as the summer route, but with the cloud cover and fog it did sometimes make it difficult to orient.
Final push up to the summit was the riskiest, as the trail skirts along some pretty thin paths with potential for a good slide. Here is where the ice axe helped a bit, as by now the temps were below freezing and the precipitation had turned to a full snow. Mother nature decided to cooperate the ½ hour before I reached the summit and a ½ hour after my arrival, providing some great views making this trip all worth the effort!
I was surprised to see several groups ascending while I was on my descent, around 2PM. Each group I saw asked about conditions, route, and gave the perception of being ill prepared. While this hike might be doable in tennis-shoes and with minimal gear, keep in mind these are winter conditions and the consequences can be immense. Please folks, go out prepared and happy hiking!
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