Windy Pass - Mount Catherine Snowshoe, Mount Catherine — Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023

Try two on a winter Mount Catherine summit.. I failed again, but just barely. Turned around juuust under the summit because the final push was too scary (deep snow on an ultra steep slope that felt like it would give way beneath my feet and some run out… then that final scramble) I’m shelving this one until I improve my skills with winter mountaineering.. I don’t think the summit is safely attainable without an ice axe and winter scrambling experience.

 Otherwise the route I chose this time (green route on map) was way better than last time (light blue on map). Last time I started from the upper Hyak parking lot (which I didn’t realize at the time you need a special permit for..) and did a mix of groomed trails (most of which are only for skiers, though I didn’t realize that at the time either) and off trail shenanigans in deep unconsolidated snow with lots of hidden obstacles. It ended up taking forever so I had to give up waaay short of my objective. This time I parked in the Hyak Sno Park (which is only open 8am to dusk, and you need a sno park permit for btw) and just cut over to FR 9070 (there’s a small connector trail) which in the winter is closed and turns into a groomed xc ski/snowshoe trail immediately after the water treatment area.

 FR 9070 to the Mount Catherine trailhead is about 4.5 miles but because it’s groomed and has relatively gentle elevation gain, it’s pretty smooth sailing. There are a few decent views of Tinkham and Silver Peaks closer to the trailhead. It took me about 2.5 hours to do this section (I’m a slow hiker and I like to take photos.)

I ended up more or less following the summer route up Mount Catherine. On Gaia it looked like following the ridge was an option to mitigate some avalanche risk.. but since the forecast was low and the snow was fairly firm, I took the summer route hoping it would save me from bushwhacking and route finding. Sometimes even if there is no recent traffic, which there absolutely was NOT today, it’s easy to see where the trail usually is by the gaps between trees. This was not the case today.. I don’t think what I did saved much, if any, effort, so if I did it again I’d probably try to follow the ridge. Even though the Mount Catherine trail is only 1.5 miles, it took me almost exactly the same time as the entire road walk. This was very difficult terrain to break trail in. Steep slopes through close trees, heavy wet snow with a bit of a crust, route finding.. it was pretty challenging, but doable until just under the summit block where I finally threw in the towel.. I was pretty disappointed after being teased with tiny glimpses of a good view all day, but I just could not find a reasonably safe approach from any side and ultimately I have a wife and cat who would be pretty put out if I got myself killed being an idiot in the wilderness. 😖

Oh well, I still had fun and I’m happy that I gave it a shot. I really need to learn to use an ice axe though 😖😖😖😖