Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Point 4795
A great day despite continued cold/snowy weather making mountain access difficult for this beautiful 11 mile, 3000 ft. gain trip.
Dave Morgan
- Sat, Feb 16, 2019
- Winter Scramble - First Top & Point 4795 Loop
- First Top & Point 4795 Loop
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Much snow at the new Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles, with icy roadway conditions on the 5 mile drive up to the Heart of the Hills entrance station. Turn right just before the entrance station to reach parking for the Lake Angeles trail (plowed area estimated at space for ~10 cars). Recent snows have delivered 3-4’ of fresh snow in places making tree wells an important hazard to avoid. Our trip to the summit of Point 4795 was made easier by a pre-existing snowshoe track to Lake Angeles, with deep snows (and tree wells) upon leaving the trail at ~4100’ for the last mile’s ~700’ of gain. Very cold with intermittent snow and light winds kept us bundled up for most of our descent.
This trip was originally planned for the same cross country traverse as done previously which includes an ascent of First Top, followed by a partial descent before ascending Point 4795 (a total of ~13 miles and ~6000’ gain). The recent deep snows and our party size of 4 made this original trip an excessive undertaking, so we opted for a shorter out and back to Point 4795 of ~11 miles and ~3000’ of gain. Drifting clouds limited our views, but we did get a glimpse of Lake Angeles and Klahhane Ridge beyond. Total time was 7 hours with an ascent of 3.5 hours plus a half hour for lunch near the summit. Photos from prior trips can be seen here.