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.

An absolutely outstanding day with clear views in all directions. This was more of a crampon day even though I didn't have any. Snowshoed one small section in the middle of the hike and followed the footsteps all the rest of the way. Excellent conditions and great fun for my first winter trek. It doesn't really get any better than this.

Being at peace with your own mortality can be very liberating. As you emerge from the forest halfway up Granite Mountain and look to the ridge at the steep, blank slope, glinting in the early morning sun with a thin layer of ice, you quickly learn how comfortable you are with exposure to relentless and driving wind without shelter, to a fragile crust of ice over heavy and waist-deep snow, to the yaw of the contours of wind-blown dunes, to the avalanche-ready pitch of all routes to the ridge, and to your own transience should the mountain decide to slough a precarious layer. At 7:30am, one other group was in the ice-slick parking lot. They were heading directly up the chute. I turned north into the forest 1/4 mile from the wooden sign at the Pratt Lake junction, well before the main chute comes into view, and I kept a steady northern bearing directly to the summit. Despite thigh-deep snow in the lower forest, I decided not to switch my MICROSpikes for snow shoes based on experience with a similar slope and snow consistency on Teneriffe two weeks ago. On the exposed slope, I put on sunglasses and sunblock. The day was quickly warming, but the ice along the rocky spine was solid, and in some areas was difficult to kick or grip. Beargrass and scrub poked from cracks on Granite's wind-wiped western shoulder. On traverses farther from the boulders, the inch-thick surface easily broke in sheets from the lower, softer layer. Each step was deliberate to avoid post-holes between rocks or to minimize sinking and slipping on unsteady snow. Despite my hunger and slow pace, I decided to plow forward as soon as the lookout came into view, directly north at the end of the ridge. There was just no shelter from the biting cold of the unremitting wind. Once on top, I had the summit to myself for half an hour and was able to warm up with more layers, fresh gloves and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The descent was more exhausting than the morning climb. After slipping on verglas and twisting my legs in unfamiliar directions, I placed each weary step even more carefully. With crowds of people now overtaking the ridge, I lost my original path and drifted east in their well-broken footprints, eventually entering the forest on the summer trail much higher than where I had diverged from it in the morning. Somehow, despite my best efforts all day, I ended up crossing the Cloaca Maxima, where a group of three people were lolling. By 2:30pm, I was warming up in the car with a sore ankle, an aching knee, a wind-raw face and running nose, and the serenity of surviving Granite Mountain's indifferent caprice.