Mt Defiance (Starvation Ridge) 05-Dec-2011

[VanMarmot]

VanMarmot... Monday!

Awesome blue skies in your pictures. And it looks very cold. Which is a good thing. Did you come across any other hikers during the hike?

It had been a busy weekend (judging from the tracks & Guy's TR) but on Monday it was just me.

[VanMarmot]

Awesome TR Van, your reports and photos always have a great rhythm. Im still amazed I could supply legendary hikers like geo and yourself.


I wonder how long things will last like this above 3 or 4000 thousand ft.

Thanks! It looks like we're in for maybe a week more of this dry weather, so I'd expect the snow below 3500' to largely disappear and that above to continue consolidating. Until we get some new snow, it's likely to be more about microspikes on slippery old snow than snowshoes on new fluffy stuff.

[pdxbucky]

I was up there today, and the snow is getting compacted into ice. Where the snow is deep enough to have left prints, this is not much of an issue and is nice in parts. For the first few hundred feet EG above snow line, however, there is not enough snow for prints causing little stretches of bumpy ice sheets. This is very inopportune when coming down the steep (which for Defiance means really steep) sections. If you plan on going up and have boot cleats, bring them.