Granite Mountain — Tuesday, May. 4, 2004

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

We left the parking lot at about 5:15pm in surprisingly good weather. Two days earlier the weather guys predict a 4000' freezing level, clouds and precipitation, but that's spring. We saw very little snow the south face of Granite from the road, and the first 2500' of gain are snow-free. We hit consistent snow at the eastern most part of the trail (where you start heading west again) and then cruised on well-consolidated snow the rest of the way. The left side of the east ridge was exposed rock, but the snow on the right side was perfect for step-kicking and so we took the direct line up the east ridge. We reached the top under amazingly clear skies at about 7:10. The lookout had all the shutters open, although we didn't see anybody in residence. We sipped hot tea and enjoyed the views. Kaleetan looks to be in good shape and Thompson appeared to be snow-free. Great plunge-stepping on the way down, so don't forget your gaitors. The snow on the east ridge won't last more than another week or two, so this will probably be the last weekend to do the east ridge on good snow.