Tripyramid trail recommendations

[BillK]

Greetings,
I'm considering hiking the Tripyramids this coming Thursday for the first time. (North & Middle peaks) The Pine Bend Brook Trail in/out looks to be the easiest route, but the loop using PB & Sabbaday sounds a lot more interesting. I'm concerned about the numerous brook crossings that I've read about, especially considering all the warm weather we've had this winter. Would you recommend that I stick with the PB Trail in/out, or do you think the loop using the Sabbaday would be ok? Maybe some of you have been on the Sabbaday recently and can vouch to it's condition. Thanks!

- Bill

 

[kamoore63]

Bill, I just did the PB route on Sat. and it was fine. There are numerous stream crossings early on but they were all pretty much completely exposed and so easy to cross. Now if there's a sustained period of cold weather, they could be slippery but none of them are wide enough to cause a problem. I've never done Sabbaday Brook Trail although met several folks who were doing the loop and all indicated that it was fine.

That's really you're only option unless you want to try the Scaur Ridge Trail but that would be at least a couple of miles longer I suspect. I wouldn't tackle the slides in winter (at least the north slide) without having exceptional skills with an ice axe, enough snow to self arrest in (unlikely given the slope) and some knowledge of how to judge avalanches.

Good luck1
- Keith

 

[BillK]

Thanks for the reply Keith. I think I'm going to park at Sabbaday falls, go up Sabbady, down PB, and then walk back to my car. I believe this is a 10 mile round trip which is about what I'm looking for right now.

- Bill

 

[bobandgeri]

Bill - Only thing you might want to consider is that the Sabaday trail may not be broken out.

 

[BillK]

Thanks Bob. Are you thinking that the trail may be diffucult to follow because of that? I could be mistaken, but I can't imagine there'd be that much snow on the trail considering the weather pattern.

- Bill

 

[bobandgeri]

Bill - Up at elevation there is 3 - 4 feet of snow. Take a look at our last two trip reports - we were on packed trails, but off trail the snow was deep!

http://rbhayes.net/recent.htm

Even if the bottom part of the trail looks packed out, be prepared to break trail in case people didn't go all the way. You might go up Pine Brook and come down Sabaday - that way you would know at the top whether people have been there recently. Several people have done Pine Brook recently, so you ahve good info on it being broken out, but I have not seen any trip reports or trail conditions on Sabaday.

 

[DougPaul]

I think I'm going to park at Sabbaday falls, go up Sabbady, down PB, and then walk back to my car. I believe this is a 10 mile round trip which is about what I'm looking for right now.

With a loop, you have the risk of travel or navigation difficulties on the way down. If you have to backtrack, you may have to reascend.

You might check the descent trailhead to see if the descent trail is broken out. You won't be able to see if the entire trail is broken out, but if the trailhead isn't, it's a good bet that the rest isn't either.

I could be mistaken, but I can't imagine there'd be that much snow on the trail considering the weather pattern.

There may not be much snow low down, but there might be significant snow high up.

Doug

 

[BillK]

Bob, great idea. I was originally thinking about going up Sabbaday as I had read it was very steep and it'd be much easier to come down it versus going up, but now I think I'll go up PB, checkout Sabbaday from the top, and if it looks ok, descend that way. Thanks for the advice.

 

[bryan]

i hiked that loop back in late november and the crossings of sabbaday brook were quite treacherous (i had gone up pine bend and down sabbaday). very high, fast, and numerous. there are a couple of areas headed up the valley that are very sparsely marked and may be hard to follow. the upper portion is quite steep in particular where the trail ascends an old slide. this may be icy. i had a great time, but was lucky the temps were mild that day as i got quite wet. i can't speak to the current conditions, but definitely use caution. have fun.

bryan