Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Humpback Mountain
Short and easy scramble at a relaxed pace.
Krzysztof Ostrowski
- Fri, May 12, 2023
- Alpine Scramble - Humpback Mountain
- Humpback Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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NF-5510 in rough condition, but no problem getting to the upper trailhead in an Outback. Parking covered by snow, but enough space to park on the side. Intermittent patches of snow for the first 0.75 mile or so, then continuous snow to the summit. Walkable in boots, but with much postholing. Showshoes came handy to minimize postholing in the upper portion.
Gathered 9am at the lower Humpback TH to assess the condition of the upper part of NF-5510. Road was passable, so we proceeded to the upper TH. Started moving 9:45am or so.
Snow on and off, but pretty sparse on the first leg of the trail and on the lower portion of the ridge.
The trail was decently steep. Some blowdowns to navigate around. Consistent snow after 0.75 miles or so all the way to the summit.
We carried snowshoes, but didn't used them until the last 500 feet or so when snow got softer, and some have started repeatedly postholing in boots. Some, however, were having difficulty with snowshoeing technique, particularly when sidehilling, and decided to take them off. It was doable in boots, but repeated postholing continued. Fortunately, noone twisted an ankle. If posible, I do recommend carrying snowshoes even just for that lat portion in similar conditions (a warm day in mid-May, temps in the 55-60F range).
Topped out 1:15pm or so, so about 3.5 hours since leaving the TH. Took 30 min. to refuel and rest.
Started heading down 1:45pm, back to the cars 4:15pm, so it took us about 2.5 hours to get down, with some bushwhacking for extra credit.
All participants survived the trip.
