A couple of cars were stuck at 1.4 miles so rather than wait them out, I turned my car around and parked at that point. They were unstuck and gone by the time I put my gear together but I knew I wasn't going to get very much farther anyway so left the car where it was parked and took off.
The road uphill of where we parked looked like this:
It could be way worse though. Here is very nearly the same spot on April 30th, 2008!
Once out of the trees, the views were wonderful:
The snow was minimal where the wind prevents a build up but the drifting onto the road and trail cuts kept us to the ridge line for most of the way:
The trail/road had virtually disappeared uphill from here:
The previous nights freeze made the snow firm and with just micro spikes, I was able to keep from postholing most of the way. Kelly's 99 lbs aren't enough to even make a dent!
Here's Kelly on one of the few sections where we had to do an angled traverse. Still not too bad.
Once on top, we ran into a half dozen other folks that had come up either from the south or in one case, up Star Ridge. (Way to go, Rex7!) Someone had left a 50 lb. barbell set at the summit and some of us had some fun playing with it. I have no idea what the tiger is all about!
On the way back down:
6.8 miles, 1700' vertical
dn
