Snow, ice, friends, glissading and lady bugs!! What a great hike. It was cold when we started at the trailhead, in the low 40's. We anticipated this and were prepared with layers. We began to see snow in patches in the first hour on the trail. By the time we got to the Icehouse Saddle, the ground was covered. There was a number of people resting at the Saddle, the majority were going to turn around at this point because of the ice and snow. And what a wonderful hike it was up to that point. But it wasn't the peak and so we decided to move on. We were actually surprised to find just how much snow and ice there was. And for full disclosure, we did not have crampons, though that would have made for a much safer hike. Lesson learned here, I do not recommend going to the peak without them. That being said, we safely made it up to the peak, the four of us, without incident. The peak felt much warmer than the rest of the hike, most likely because we had full exposure of the sun. We had lunch, took photos, chatted with the few hikers at the peak and built a snowman. We went down carefully though took advantage of one small area to glissade. What fun. I was happy to find some of the ice had melted while we were on the peak. I have hiked this mountain in the summer and it was hot, hot, hot. Going up in the cold was a much different experience and I will remember this hike fondly. We had one more surprise waiting for us just as we came upon the river on the way down. Lady bugs! Hundreds and hundreds of them on the rocks and plants. I've never seen anything like that before.
PS: I've ordered crampons. You never know when you'll have the chance to adventure in the snow again. This time I'll be bettered prepared.
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Responses
I forgot Bernard. Bernard is the snowman. I resurrect/rebuild/redress him on all trips to the snow.