Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Blowdown, Dixie Peak
A great bad weather conditioner (~12 miles/~5000’), especially with such easy access. The less frequented Blowdown-Dixie ridges also gave us a bit of navigation practice (no boot/snowshoe tracks from other parties).
- Sat, Apr 16, 2022
- Winter Scramble - Dixie Peak
- Mount Si Old Trail
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Compact snow/ice on the Old Si trail required micro-spikes at ~2300’ and up. We converted to snowshoes near the junction of the logging road leading up to Blowdown (~3800’ elevation). Our ice axes/helmets were used near a few bad runout spots just south of Dixie’s summit.
A convenient venue to refresh conditioning, navigation, and snow skills. The ridge just east of Blowdown’s summit is interesting with a dramatic drop-off on the north side, much less so to the south (the side we traveled ;). A bit further along this ridge (to the east) is a great place to practice “snowshoeing over talus with a minimal snow cover”:
A surprisingly good day in the mountains with a total time of 9 hours (~5 hours up, ~4 hours down). Photos from this and other trips to this venue can be seen here.