btausend
New member
Date of Hike: 01/17/14
Trail Conditions: Basically Valley Way is a sheet of ice from bottom to top with a little bit of snow on it. There was four of us and we hit the trail at 8 am. No one else was in the parking lot. There was about a half inch to an inch of snow on top of the ice for most of Valley Way. The snow actually helped with traction. It seems a little sticky and would sometime ball up on our microspikes. Up near the Valley Way tent site the trail had 2" to 3" on the trail. There are numerous spots on the trail that are wet or with open water. Water crossing were not bridged, but were easy to cross. The overall snow/ice base on the trail is not that deep so there were plenty of rocks and roots along the way. Above the tent site the trail has more of a base. Also there are several ice floes on the trail with a couple large floes. There were four or five blow downs that were easy to step over.
Gulfside trail has more snow on it, but that is probably because of drifting. The depth was up to a foot of snow with a couple deeper drifts. Someone had been to Adams in the past few days because we could see their tracks on and off. Airline to Adams was mostly a rock hop with some sections of just snow. We had no problems following Gulfside and Airline up to Adams. The cairns are easy to spot except for a couple just before we got to Adams. We had to look closely because they were small and covered with snow. The rocks were free of ice.
Special Equipment: We used microspikes car to car. We left the snowshoes in the cars. We had crampons with us, but they were not needed at all. Even though Valley Way is just snow covered ice, the microspikes worked great on the way up. Heading back down we had to be a little more cautious because the trail seemed more slippery. Even with the snow depths on Gulfside I wouldn't have switched to snowshoes if I had them. It was pretty easy to hike with just microspikes.
Comments: Even though we started out as four, two of us went to Adams and the other two went to Madison. The forecast was mostly cloudy, early morning fog with winds 25 to 35 MPH. The hike started out that way, but by the time we got to the tent site we had hiked above the cloud layer and had sun and blue skies. Later on it looked like that cloud layer burned off. The views were much more than expected and we could even see Washington from Adams. The winds were mostly gusts and did get into the 30s. Sometimes it picked up a lot of snow and caused mini white outs, but it only lasted a few seconds. I didn't go up to Madison, but it looked like it was just a rock hop to the top. Thanks to John Williams, Marysgirl, and Scott for a great day above treeline.
Brian
Trail Conditions: Basically Valley Way is a sheet of ice from bottom to top with a little bit of snow on it. There was four of us and we hit the trail at 8 am. No one else was in the parking lot. There was about a half inch to an inch of snow on top of the ice for most of Valley Way. The snow actually helped with traction. It seems a little sticky and would sometime ball up on our microspikes. Up near the Valley Way tent site the trail had 2" to 3" on the trail. There are numerous spots on the trail that are wet or with open water. Water crossing were not bridged, but were easy to cross. The overall snow/ice base on the trail is not that deep so there were plenty of rocks and roots along the way. Above the tent site the trail has more of a base. Also there are several ice floes on the trail with a couple large floes. There were four or five blow downs that were easy to step over.
Gulfside trail has more snow on it, but that is probably because of drifting. The depth was up to a foot of snow with a couple deeper drifts. Someone had been to Adams in the past few days because we could see their tracks on and off. Airline to Adams was mostly a rock hop with some sections of just snow. We had no problems following Gulfside and Airline up to Adams. The cairns are easy to spot except for a couple just before we got to Adams. We had to look closely because they were small and covered with snow. The rocks were free of ice.
Special Equipment: We used microspikes car to car. We left the snowshoes in the cars. We had crampons with us, but they were not needed at all. Even though Valley Way is just snow covered ice, the microspikes worked great on the way up. Heading back down we had to be a little more cautious because the trail seemed more slippery. Even with the snow depths on Gulfside I wouldn't have switched to snowshoes if I had them. It was pretty easy to hike with just microspikes.
Comments: Even though we started out as four, two of us went to Adams and the other two went to Madison. The forecast was mostly cloudy, early morning fog with winds 25 to 35 MPH. The hike started out that way, but by the time we got to the tent site we had hiked above the cloud layer and had sun and blue skies. Later on it looked like that cloud layer burned off. The views were much more than expected and we could even see Washington from Adams. The winds were mostly gusts and did get into the 30s. Sometimes it picked up a lot of snow and caused mini white outs, but it only lasted a few seconds. I didn't go up to Madison, but it looked like it was just a rock hop to the top. Thanks to John Williams, Marysgirl, and Scott for a great day above treeline.
Brian
