Left late from the trailhead at around noon and headed up the Pratt Lake Trail to the Granite Mountain junction. Only 2 others in front of us, and a good trail up to the gulch at 3200 feet. We tried to pack light for an overnighter with a Walrus 2 man tent and 2 stoves and other cold weather gear. With the conditions of the mountain that I have heard recently we had all gear that we would ever need (Snowshoes, Crampons, Ice Axe, Picket) Once at the gulch there was only one set of tracks from someone that was about 1000 feet above us, as the hiker behind us did not have snowshoes which made for less than warranted hiking. As the gulley does a shotgun type of scenario, the trail we took crossed the main gulley before it split, then ascended the middle ridgeline (35-45 degree slopes), with the lower portion in some trees. The day was beautiful with blue skies and the sun warming our backs. At 4000 feet we had to take off the snowshoes and put on the crampons. At this time my calves were burning pretty bad since I only have the MSR Denali Classics, and with 45 lbs on my back it was pretty rough (Ryan had the Denali Ascents and had no problem). We decided to go straight for the false summit by shooting for the Pearly Gates of Granite (as they appeared like Mt Hood). It was long and rough, with real icy snow, and that freakishly long runout that the gulch has, and falling with a big pack with crampons is a less than desirable scenario for arresting. We made the false summit and were happy to see the lookout tower just ahead of us. We still had about 1 hour of daylight, so we decided to brave the elements and set up camp right next to the lookout tower on the east side. I spent some time creating a wall barrier of snow inside the framework of one side of the lookout tower to block the wind, so it might be up there for awhile, so if you see it up there, email me so I know it's still standing! (scott@nwog.org) There was virtually no wind and a beautiful sunset (images are available on summitpost.com under Granite Mountain). We were in our sleeping bags by 615pm, and ready for a good nights sleep. That never happened - we got bombarded by the storm, 40+mph winds blasted the tent all night, and snow kept burying a small portion of my side of the tent making it a 1.5 man tent. After much contemplation we finally got up around 930am (15 hours later!) to find whiteout conditions and winds that could knock us over. We hated the thought of having to break camp, especially after I left the vestibule open after a midnight bathroom break. So lots of gear was buried inside of the vestibule. ""Time for breakfast' I think not, let's get off this darn mountain!"" We got our packs ready and finally took down the tent and then the conditions worsened, we could not see down the route, no landmarks or anything. We knew that if we went straight down we would eventually hit I-90, and that the gulch traversed at 3200 feet, but how to get there' We decended with crampons and ice axe very slowly for the first 1000 feet as winds blew spindrift across the 35-45 degree slope. Were we in the gulch' We could not tell, but it was the last place we wanted to be with all the fresh snow that hit last night, making avalanche danger a little higher. We finally hit treeline and were ecstatic, now all we had to do was get down to the trail. We wound up crossing creeks and other terrain that I never remember seeing, and wound up on the Pratt Lake Trail at 3400 feet. This was exciting, we had made it, and safely. Once on the trail we sprinted with snowshoes on as far as we could through snow and mud until we had to carry them as to not waste time. Plenty of snow at the parking lot, and we zoomed out of there to get some coffee in Northbend. A true Epic climb!

The trail is snow-free until it nears the avalanche chute, where snow can be hard-packed and slippery. We turned up the chute, using previous steps. Avalanche possibilities seemed non-existent down low due to such a lack of snow, but we were concerned with snow conditions up above. Our instincts got the best of us, and we broke new trail left of the chute. But there was only a few feet of snow in the bowl higher on the mountain, with brush sticking out, and the ridge was half bare. What snow was up there had already come down or melted. It looked like a November snowpack. We put on crampons for the hard snow on the ridge to the summit, which made travel quick. No views, but a great glissade down.

Sunday was a really nice day for a hike. The trail starts off with patchy snow until the Granite Mt Trail starts. I had a nice hike up the left side of the avalanche shoot. Made it up to the ridge. Stopped there because of Wind and Ice. I was the unfortunate witness to two inconsiderate yahoo's and their dog. They climbed very close to the top of the mountain with their dog. They then slid all the way down the shoot until just above the trail. Well, the dog only followed them down a couple hundred feet. The dog started barking and ran back up the ridge and barked some more. It kept doing this for 15 minutes! The poor dog didn't know what to do. During this time the owner was yelling as loud as he could for the dog. Like the rest of us on the mountain needed to hear him. He just stood there in the avalanche shoot and yelled as loud as he could until he realized he had to go back up. I reached his buddy and let him know what I thought. His response was ""We have best vertical here in Washington"" ""He's teaching me, I don't tell him nothin"" ""Were going to do McKinley"" The whole thing kind of wrecked my hike.

As I don't need a checkup this week I went up Granite with my Dentist so I would remember what pain was all about. It was snow all the way from the parking lot but not icy on the trail. The main gully had minimal snowpack and we punched up it without any problem. Exiting to the ridge from the gully had some hard snow and cautioon is advised. Once on the ridge it is intermitant snow, ice and rock and the going was a bit slow but no major problem. Finally a couple of hundred feet below the summit it was all fairly easy snow travel. On the summit it was blowing quite a bit and we did not tarry long. The usual cornices have not built up yet. On the way down we elected to use crampons although they were balling up quite a bit. Still it would be a most uncomfortable descent without them. Of course the minute it snows, everything I have reported goes out the window. At this writing the avalanche hazard I would estimate as minimal.

A great early morning hike. Ray and I started at 6:15 am. Some icy snow on the trail, then some kicked steps headed up just left of an avalanche gully. Soon the steps ended, and we put on crampons for fast progress on the hard, steep slopes. There was about an inch of powder in some places. The lookout tower balcony was locked off, but the views improved, with interesting holes in the clouds below. There was mostly blue sky above, but a broad swath of grey cloud covering the valleys and the views eastward. No need for snowshoes, but crampons are very useful. It's nice to have an ice ax in some places. Moderate wind. What a nice peak!