Ascent of Old Snowy Mountain on 2020-04-26| Other People: | Solo Ascent
| | Date: | Sunday, April 26, 2020 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Peak: | Old Snowy Mountain | | Location: | USA-Washington | | Elevation: | 7880 ft / 2401 m |
Ascent Trip ReportFrom the top of Gilbert I returned to my skis at 7000' and skied NW down the gentle glacier I had come up. The descent eventually became a traverse which ended at 6000' at the lower reaches of east McCall Glacier. Now by 2:30 pm the snow had become quite soft and sloppy. I transitioned back to skins and made my way towards Old Snowy, eventually reaching the 7600' saddle about 1/4 mile SE of the summit. The wind here was ferocious. I booted the west side of the ridge over to a gully which allowed me to use the more wind-protected east side of the ridge for the last bit to the top. I reversed back to the skis, but didn't like the look of the rimy slope to the west so I booted down a few hundred feet before transitioning for the descent at about 5 pm.
I carefully skied the firm surface toward Snowgrass Flat, snow slowly becoming more corny, then more slushy below 6000'. I mostly followed by track back to cross the same snow bridge I had used across Goat Creek. I attempted to skin, but the warm slushy snow caused my skin glue to fail completely. On the long traverse at 4700' back to the Chambers Lake trailhead I discovered the joy of using skinning technique without skins attached, kind of a nordic style. Turns out that if the angle is low enough, slushy wet snow can be a little grippy on bases stripped of wax by skiing on ice all day. I finally reached my gear cache around 8, and then nordic-skied down the road to reach my car at 10.
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| Summary Total Data | | Route Conditions: | Snow Climb | | Gear Used: | Ice Axe, Crampons, Skis | Ascent Part of Trip: Curtis Gilbert Tour (1 nights total away from roads)
Complete Trip Sequence:
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