Awesome hike, started at 6:45am and made it to the top by 9:45 and hung out for about 30 minutes before making it back down by 2:15pm. Surprisingly, there was still a lot of snow near the top, and once I made it to the lookout, it was still foggy, so unfortunately I was not able to capture the view of the surrounding mountains. This trail is daunting and quite challenging at a few places, most notably after the meadow clearing once you exit the forest, you run into a steep trail covered by rocks and almost no dirt trail. Pack very light, just water, medkit, and a few snack bars. I would recommend this hike to the more seasoned hiker, as I've run into a few novices on the way down who were practically gasping for air and close to quitting. Good luck and happy hiking :)

Splendid day in a splendid week. Pretty low Avalanche danger today, so I took a swing at Granite Mtn (after having a route finding error and insane winds turn me back last month). I suggest starting as early as you can--I started about 9:30 and the snow was not "in condition" as they used to say. A little wet and very post-holey. The Av chute is pretty tame and I expected to see some boot tracks crossing it to the summer trail, but no. Probably for the best. I followed boot tracks and stayed left of the chute, though closer than I'd like if it was a high danger day. Once out of the trees, I veered left to climb the rocks on the ridge--too much post-holing otherwise. Coming down a couple hours later was ridiculous--I sank to my hips more often than not. Butt glissading worked surprisingly well (wet soft snow?) when I didn't feel like sinking all the way. Recommendations: Start early before sun turns snow to quicksand. Snowshoes didn't seem to help one guy I passed. I went boots only but my gaiters were vital. Gaiters! Trekking poles and maybe even an ice axe. Sun screen, and if it's still hot as today, a couple spare shirts. I worked up such a sweat my glacier glasses fogged up despite having the side shields off. And then they weren't foggy, they were pooled with sweat. A sweaty 3:12 up, spectacular views for 25 minutes, and about 90 minutes down. Fine day.

I picked Tuesday because of the weather and mostly got it right. Clear and beautiful but a bit cold. I intended climbing Granite Mountain (low av danger!) but missed the trail turnoff and ended up hiking 90 minutes toward Pratt Lake--THAT trail is in pretty good shape, with a dozen or more blowdowns that aren't too much of a pain. I did not go all the way but want to report that the trail was pretty good. Then I turned around figuring I'd go as far as I could on Granite before my turnaround time... Hmph. Once I found the trail junction (totally missed it first time because I was probably watching footing at a meltwater stream crossing) it went well. That trail was probably in better shape, some snow issues but fewer blowdowns. The avalanche chute didn't look too fearsome and there was actually one set of human tracks out in it--not so smart. The footpath up the left edge of the tree line, then through the trees, then up to the ridge was pretty well defined and in good condition--decent traction, minimal post-holing. I was passed at some point after breaking trail for a half hour and happily followed another climber who led the way, but a few hundred feet above tree line the wind started to get nasty. Nearly blow you down nasty. Maybe I was just psychologically unprepared for it, but I don't think I've hiked in wind like that on Rainier or in the Himalayas. Concerned that if I took out my phone for pics, it would be blown away. Gorgeous day but I hit my turnaround time (having wasted an hour lower down) and was just not loving the wind (dropping 300 vertical feet, still above tree line, it mostly abated). A shame because the snow was in good condition--I never even put on gaiters or crampons--despite a lot of moderate post-holing (10-18 inches) the snow was compact enough and granular enough that it didn't go up my pant legs. My third winter climb here and the best snow I've seen. Though in the warm sun it started to get a little wet and collapsible on the way down. On the way down, like once before, I somehow got lost following my own tracks! In the woods with bright sun dappling through the trees... sigh. I learned that it is not always true that "if you just head downhill you'll cross the trail"--in this case I found myself about 200 feet too low and went out into the av chute in order to re-ascend without getting snagged in all the brush. Soon found tracks along the edge, followed them into the woods, then got down fine. No other cars when I arrived about 8:30 Tuesday morning, only two others when I left 5.5 hours later.

It was a good, but cold day out in the mountains. Gust were between 20-30 mph above the treeline. The trail is pretty straight forward, but the boot tracks were getting pretty faint. Another guy there and I were the only two to climb it so there should be more defined tracks now. It was a sunny day, so the snow softened up enough so no microspikes or snowshoes needed. I'd suggest bringing poles or an ice axe on the upper slopes, as it gets pretty steep. I wish I brought my ice axe. As for the winter ascent and all the other reports mentioning the danger of avalanches, I avoided crossing east of the open clearing/snow chute, and remained to climb on the west side of the snow chute, following existing boot tracks. This will lead you to the Southwest side of Granite Mountain. Once you get out of the trees, you can see the ridge which you can follow. With the 30 mph gusts today, I was getting blown over and had to turn back about 0.5 mile from the top, ~5000 ft elevation. As I climbed higher, the gusts were just getting worse. The other guy turned around a little lower than me. All in all, remain west of the snow chutes, follow the snow boot tracks in the trees and along the ridge, bring poles or ice axe, and prepare yourself up the steep route. Be sure to check avalanche danger: https://www.nwac.us/ Anything above moderate danger, I'd be very wary of...

Due to considerable to high avalanche danger in last couple of months, I put off my New Year's Day Granite Mountain hiking tradition until now. The nearly bluebird weather was too good to pass up albeit a super late morning start. Unable to find recent photos on Instagram or on Flickr made me even more curious to find out about the trail conditions. Even for a weekday, I was surprised to see only two cars at the trailhead. Trail wasn't terribly icy to start off, but I put on microspikes in case there was more ice ahead. Just past the first stream not far from the trailhead were rows of sawed up down trees for about 100 feet on both sides of the trail. A couple more down trees beyond that but easily to get around. Since my last visit, the Alpine Lakes Wilderness sign that used to be much farther up on the trail before one of the clearings by the snow chute had been relocated to the big tree about 500 feet before the Granite Mountain/Pratt Lake trail junction. After arriving at the switchback by the second clearing, the old snow track split into two faint snowshoe/boot tracks heading up opposite sides of the snow chute. Pups and I followed the track on the left, which stayed in the trees on the south rib, in semi-slushy snow. Once we got to the elevation where the summer trail normally would be, I looked across the chute and it was evident that the trail hadn't been broken. This was about where I started to posthole a lot more, so I switched to snowshoes and continued up the slope. Slush was constantly weighing down the snowshoes and it made breaking trail that much more fun. Once we got out of the tree line, there was less than a foot of snow and it hardened a bit which made for a much faster ascent while we aimed for the nearly bare, steep southwest ridge. We then boulder hopped our way to a couple hundred feet below the lookout tower. There the slope became more gradual and I got back on snow and kicked steps all the way to the lookout. The weather was much warmer than I expected, and the wind practically died down once we got to the top. Since we didn't notice anyone coming down on our way up, I assumed hikers in the other two vehicles had gone elsewhere. But what a beautiful day to enjoy complete solitude atop the summit on this potentially last sunny day of the week. Flickr: http://bit.ly/granite-mountain-xiii