Trip Report
West Granite (winter)
Early Spring snow scramble approaching from Pratt Lake Trail
Margot Tsakonas
- Sun, Apr 23, 2017
- West Granite
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Trail mostly snow free to about 3000 ft or so. Some packed snow beyond that but did not need microspikes until we left trail at about 3400 ft to ascend ridgeline. Snow deep enough for snowshoes at around 4000 ft. Breaking trail very arduous due to extremely wet and loose snow. Ridge between knob at about 5200 ft and the summit was heavily corniced- alternating sides. Summit ridge corniced and deep holes / fractures evident.
Our party of 3 (myself and 2 students, one of whom is a Backcountry snowshoe leader) made slow but steady progress despite the snow conditions. Light precip, cloud cover (but no wind) meant we had only a few peeks at views. Both students were motivated and cheerfully participated in routefinding and in slogging thru the mush.