Granite Mountain, Granite Mountain - Winter — Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

I was happy to be hiking with Quetzalcoatl today. We left all the fog behind in North Bend. An 8:30 start showed two cars in the lot. Almost no snow on the mountains is bad, bad, bad. After crossing the first gully, it’s compact snow and ice most of the way. I could have done the whole thing in trail runners and gators. That may change with 6-12” of new in the next 24 hours. Up top was a slippery inch or two on hard crust. Winter route is not available, and even the SE ridge is barely covered. Four-point instep crampons would have helped. We had the usual stellar views, with low fog, and high clouds in abundance. Only about ten people on trail today. 8 miles R/T, five hours car to car.