Flickr: http://bit.ly/granite-mountain-ix Got a late start waiting for REI to open to rent a pair of snowshoes since I broke the bindings on mine on Mount Persis yesterday. Friends and I took the snow gully straight up since today's avalanche danger in the area was low. The breeze felt in the gully was the prelude to the 10-20+ mph wind that would eventually accompany on the ridge all the way to the summit. Some old snowshoe/ski tracks throughout but they were too faint to follow, so we made our own. We decided to dodge the wind by traversing to the west and that helped a bit. Balaclava was definitely a great idea at this point! It was also much icier west of the rock-exposed ridge so make sure to bring an ice ax. The lookout tower was covered in pure white and the area had way more snow than a year ago. Most of the trees on top were buried in so only a few of them around to provide shelter from the wind. We stayed long enough to eat and take photos then started making out way down the mountain. What a glorious day on the first day of the year!

We avoided the avalanche chute and climbed up hill. I used crampons and my brother used micro spikes. I recommend snowshoes for the lower tree-line part of the trail. Then crampons once you have to climb. Because it is hard to climb with snowshoes at this steep angle. All 3 of us had snow trekking poles. On this day it was raining and lots of snow on the trail. We sunk in over waist deep towards the top and rain turned into hail blowing sideways. It was treacherous but we were laughing on the way down. Stay safe.

Went back before the snow melts. Hiked up to ski down. Great weather, lots of snow above 4000 feet, but noticeably less than the previous week. The peak still has tons of snow. Was able to ski through the woods all the way down to 3500 feet. Stayed away from avalanche chutes, they were flowing! See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ZbqkQ2z2M

Hiked up to ski down. Great weather, lots of snow above 4000 feet, was able to ski through the woods all the way down to 3100 feet. Stayed away from avalanche chutes, they were flowing! Check out the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dDh6-FNnNw

A friend and me were planning to hike Granite mountain in the snow today. We got to the trailhead a little later than we had hoped around 10:30, but initially made good progress. We began to have problems with our hiking poles when we turned onto the snow route. I lost a snowbasket, and my partner's froze up entirely. Also, without snowshoes, we began to sink in up to our hips. I once even went in up to my neck! Eventually, my partner ran out of gas and we had to turn around. Still a great hike though, in a beautiful setting. Wish I would have brought the camera. I assessed the avalanche danger in the chute by doing some testing and found fairly stable conditions, but that's bound to change with more snow on the way this week.