Trip Report
Round Mountain
Fun snow scramble with a challenging approach.
Ryan Pohanic
- Sat, Feb 12, 2022
- Round Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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Snow line starts around 3200', flotation not necessary. Decent bootpack to summit. Snow conditions highly variable from firm to postholey. Some of the shaded areas on the steeps were quite firm and required work to get an axe in, be mindful when plunge stepping down. No free flowing water observed on route, take plenty.
We arrived at the TH approx 730am, last stretch of FS-1890 was a bit rough but had been cleared of fallen trees recently. After gearing up we followed the road, leaving it just less than a half mile where we saw some flagging tape. Route finding was ok, basically a steep, duff-covered grind with a short respite at 3000'. From here we had the benefit of a bootpack to follow as we transitioned to snow for the remainder of the scramble.
Gaining the ridge around 3600' was quite a relief and made for easy booting to base of Round, which looks quite formidable from the base. Warm weather had softened snow enough that traction devices weren't necessary, and it took us about an hour to make the last 1000' to the summit. There were a few places with moderate exposure and some steeper snow slopes but the snow felt good.
We reached the expansive summit around noon and enjoyed lunch and spectacular views for awhile, starting back down around 1230. The down climb went smoothly, the actual crux of the trip was the scramble back down through the forest. Loose ground cover, steep-ish slopes, and a route seemingly flagged at random tried our patience but we made it down safely, returning to the cars a little after 4pm.