Took the doggo up for a hike today. Snow started in earnest at the “entrance” to the meadows and continued on from there, patchy in places but mostly solid still. Some snow bridges to watch out for and the occasional surprise posthole that seems to come out of no where. Otherwise mashed potato snow, even at 10am. I was able to get to the summit with spikes, poles and an ice axe. Also saw someone without any of that gear, but I tend to like to play it safe on steep slopes with iffy runouts especially in this slippery melting snow. A few cornices cleaving off at the summit, and a snow bridge at the very end to be aware of. Beautiful day out there!
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Comments
vikr on Goat Mountain
Thanks for sharing the info. Pics looks amazing.
I was just mapping it on caltopo for tomorrow. How are the slopes from where the "official" hike ends? Are there enough boothpath in the last mile to follow? I will be carrying Ice axe, poles, microspikes and gaiters. I am not planning to carry snowshoes how much issue was postholing if you start early? What time did you start?
Posted by:
vikr on Jun 30, 2022 06:02 PM
Veronica84 on Goat Mountain
Hi there! I started at 830am. The postholing was honestly just spots where bridges were weakening and it wasn’t obvious that it wasn’t solid ground underneath ie. Rock outcroppings that we’re still mostly covered. It only happened to me 2-3 times that I fell through! Otherwise largely consolidated. Once you get off the “official” trail and start the last steep ascent, the trail is entirely hidden under snowfields. A lot of people cut straight up across the patch of grass to a snowfield, and then up and climbers left. Then up to another snowfield and up to the ridge. With the amount of snow cover this makes more sense than trying to trace the summer route underneath it which switchbacks and adds a bit of mileage. Hope this helps! Have a great hike!
Posted by:
Veronica84 on Jun 30, 2022 06:12 PM