Ours was the fourth car at the Granite/Pratt trailhead when we started around 7am. Fleetwood Mac was naturally the day's soundtrack. Headed west towards Olallie Lake on bare trail. Creek crossings no problem early in the day. One section of boardwalk has some rotted planks but those can be easily stepped over. Rounded the corner near "Lookout" "Point" and proceeded north. Snow began around 3800' and was mostly continuous from there with a few muddy patches. A solid boot track made navigation easy with no traction required. There was a moderately tricky creek crossing around 4000' that required descending a short but vertical snowbank directly into the shallow water.

We were looking for sets of footprints heading east from the trail but finding no obvious candidates we turned right by a tree with an old insulator attached. Seems reasonable that the party line to the Granite lookout would have gone this way instead of across the south avy slopes. After some mostly open forest travel we emerged onto a snow slope that provided a straightforward elevator to the NW ridge of West Granite ("Tusk O'Granite"). We stayed towards the shady climber's-right side and found snow conditions generally good for kicking steps with no traction. The axe stayed on the pack, as most of the snow would have been arrestable with a ham sandwich, but poles were helpful.

Emerging onto the ridge we connected with a set of week-or-two-old solo snowshoe tracks and then the tracks of a much larger group. It took us until this point to realize that "Tusk O'Granite" is a play on "Tuscohatchie". Some waist-deep wallowing was had on the lee side when we tried to cut a corner not in the trees, but that was soon over and we emerged onto the summit at about 10:30. It was a little hazy in the distance but the views of the surrounding peaks were fantastic.

After a brief break we descended into the saddle between the Tusk and Granite proper. Some really big trees there! Some of the largest I've seen above 5000' in the area. Snow was getting softer but staying in the forest helped. We soon exhausted that option and were on the narrow, somewhat exposed NW ridge of Granite. We stayed climber's right below the crest for cornice reasons and to try to keep to snow instead of boulders. In a few spots the snow was very thin on top of the rocks and we punched through deeply into the awkward spaces between talus blocks. On a couple traverses I wish I'd gotten my axe out but it would have been more work to do so at that point than just kicking a couple extra times each step for purchase. Meanwhile, in some places we were able to use the pre-kicked steps of the morning ski crowd, which was great.

Reached the lookout about an hour after leaving the Tusk and found a large party with several frolicking dogs. Took a rest and then descended mashed-potato snow on the winter route to the trail at about 4350'. Trail was mixed snow and mud and boulders crossing the upper avy gully, with a couple punch-throughs and one creek crossing that took some care. Pretty much snow free below 4000' with dusty sun exposure. The avalanche damage from the past winter has been cleared! Surprised at how few people we saw overall on this excellent weather day. Full loop came in around 9 miles and 4000 total feet of gain. Then for me it was off to the Bainbridge ferry with the in-laws for a complete Seattle day.

I hiked granite Mt. via the winter route. Trail had avalanche debris on trail once the trail reaches the first avalanche gully. from here I headed up the winter route. (I spoke with a few people who said the summer route was snowed in for most of the route past the avalanche gully.)

The winter route was snow free until about 3,800 elevation. The snow was soft but not too difficult to hike wearing spikes. Once I cleared the tree line, I was able to find a snow free route up the ridge until near the summit. It turned to full snow near the summit, but it was firm enough that I did not post hole.

There was too little snow to have any serious avi danger on the way up. However, there is a massive cornice at the summit so use caution if you go past the fire tower.

On the down route, I was able to find a line of snow that went down from the summit almost the whole way back to the winter route cut off. The snow was in great condition for a fast foot skiing descent. I did some laps up and down in the Alpine to get extra vert and more glissades down the fun snow section.

Went up to train with a heavy pack. We thought maybe there would be a good enough boot track to go up in trail runners and microspikes but you really need snow shoes unless you like postholing in knee deep snow. 

The snow on the trail starts around 3700 ft and gets rather deep and a lot of postholing by 4500 ft. We decided to call it a day at that point.

All three avalanche shoots have avalanche debris but didn't cause any trouble with keeping trail. Just be sure to check avalanche safety ratings before you travel into this area.

This is one of my favorite hikes in the i90 corridor, and have always wanted to do the winter route, but… timing never worked out with respect to the avvy conditions. Today the planets aligned! Trail is snow free up to about 4,000 feet. Good boot trail once in the open area all the way up the ridge to the summit. Snow is completely consolidated, crampons or microspikes are recommended. Snow was a little soft about 100 vertical from the peak, but other than that no issues with postholing at all. Wind was mild, and ok visibility, but… no views due to the cloud layer. All in all, a great day!.

Absolute perfect conditions! Hard snow pack, low winds, established and clean boot trail up the winter router, and sunny blue skies. Took about 4.5 hrs, just microspikes needed. Snow level is ~4,200ft. But this will quickly change with the incoming precipitation. I think we caught a perfect window. Incredible hike!

Hike 014 - Granite Mountain

https://youtu.be/tuqerOg2X4U