Up until now, all the trails had been snow-free but snow started abruptly at 2600’ on the PCT – fortunately it was consolidated and easy to walk over.
I continued on the PCT to its 2nd junction with the service road, turned left and followed the road up to the saddle between the NW ridge of Table and Pt 3353 (S Birkenfeld). I then headed straight up the ridge toward Pt 3353. Along the way I passed what looked like a group of vision quest pits just above where the PCT crosses the ridge.
Right after the pits, I hit snow that looked great on the surface but was actually a posthole disaster – a breakable crust about 2” down, then 18”+ of soft mush, getting softer as the sun went higher. By making use of aggressive floundering and a few snow-free stretches along the ridge, I was able to proceed toward the summit. Along the way, I got good view of Table’s NW route (and Hood),
and E along the Gorge for a panoramic view of Augspurger (a), Wind (w), Dog (d), and Defiance (D).
After awhile, the top of Pt 3353 hove into view, with Birkenfeld Mountain (Pt 3763) behind it,
and Adams standing clear in the distance.
By now, I’d realized that the poor snow conditions (and lack of snowshoes) had slowed my travel time so much that a traverse to Birkenfeld was probably not practical. So I turned and dropped E off the ridge toward the service road below - glissading in spots where the soft was just too soft and deep. Along the way, I crossed the PCT, buried under 4-6’ of snow,
and then the service road, also with a good layer of snow.
After getting back to the saddle, I decided I might as well round out my posthole experience by going over Table via its NW ridge. Back in February, the snow on the road portion of this route was not as deep and maneuvering around branches was a problem. This time the snow was so deep that 95% of the branches were buried and it was just the soft snow that was a challenge.
Fortunately some sections of the ridge were snow-free,
so I didn’t have to fight snow all the way to the top of Table. There was snow on Table but it was much firmer than what I’d encountered on the rest of my route and was able to form an impressive cornice.
After that, it was a big view of Hood,
and then back via the W ridge trail, which was essentially free of snow except for a very short section near the top. All told, 12 mi and 4200’ gain under – snow conditions aside - absolutely perfect weather conditions. I only saw a few tracks and two hikers the whole day – and my tracks were the only ones on the NW ridge. The Birkenfelds are still on my list – for when the snow either truly consolidates or melts.
