What an incredible snowshoeing area, with amazing views, wide-open terrain, and dramatic pillowy mountains in every direction! Recommend that one avoid this area if avalanche conditions are "considerable" or greater. Breaking trail would have been very difficult given the deep snow conditions (would not have made it ~6 miles without relying on a broken trail given that I did not bring my snowshoe extenders). Even then, there was evident of post-holing in spots up to waist deep (snowshoes or skis were a must). Track your progress using GPS (foggy white-out conditions could easily get one lost) and pay attention to avalanche terrain (the trail does not follow the summer road directly, a road with some significant avalanche exposure on a couple corners, and sunny southern exposures became wet in spots in the afternoon). This decidedly feels more "intimate", despite the endless views, than snowshoeing out of Paradise at Rainier. Outstanding!
The full WTA trip report is available here:
www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-re...
7 мар 2024
