Snow Creek - Report 3/2/08

[cynthia23]

Great pix. Thanks for posting and again congratulations .... don't know that I'd call it a "hike", though. Seems to me that the Snow Creek route is true mountaineering. I vaguely recall someone on this board a year or so ago, who posted that he was considering trying the "Snow Creek hike" and people were alarmed because he really did seem to think it was a "hike". (He was talked out of attempting it, as I recall.) Just semantic nitpicking I know, but I think the word choice can influence some people to undertake tasks they are not prepared for. I myself would call the Snow Creek route a "climb" or an alpine mountaineering route. (which is why I won't be "hiking" it in this lifetime.)

[lee]

When I grow up, I want to be like Clark... err... Rick Kent

[AlanK]

From the SGWA Message Board:

Posted by Leo on March 11, 2008, 9:03:52
67.103.68.218

My buddy and I went up Snow Creek on Saturday. We got a relatively good start and arrived to the chockstone somewhere between 9-10am. From here, for about 4,000 feet the snow in the chute was compact and icy. Only our crampon points penetrated the snow. Some sections had a very thin layer of slushy snow on top of the icy snow which made things a bit unnerving. Self-arrest in that kind of snow would have been very difficult. At 8100 ft we took the right sided chute to the top. Above 9000 ft at the very last fork we went up the left chute and found that all the snow in that chute was extremely unstable....a thin layer of hard pack snow with airy powdery snow under. This made the 45 degree chute extremely challenging. It took us 30 minutes to barely go up 100 feet. We decided to get on the ridge to our right to see if the snow on the ridge would do us any favors. It was a bad idea. The snow on the ridge was even worse, and the steepness of the ridge was at least 50 degrees. The snow was airy and unstable. The rocks on the ridge had thick layers of ice around them. Me and my friend found ourselves in tricky situations (to say the least). At points we had to wedge ourselves through rocks, grab onto trees in order to avoid putting full weight on the unstable snow that broke out from underneath us. The snow was so unstable that our ice axe spikes had nothing to bite into. And on top of it all, gusts of wind would frequently rush up the chute. Fortunately we could hear the gust before it blew on us so we could prepare ourselves.
Finally, after spending 2-3 hours in the last 1,000ft or less to the top of careful negotiating, we made it. We were extremely tired and rushed down to the tram from there. Our story was similar to Rick Kent's two weekends ago:
http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/3 ... -2008.html

[Cy Kaicener]

About seven or eight climbers from Summitpost are planning on doing it on Mar 29 and 30
Three are Jon Meek, Miguel Forjan and Dave Daly.
Its extremely difficult with a heavy pack including sleeping gear, and also climbing it in one day. Not for me.

[lipbiter]

AVALANCHES kill more winter recreationists than any other natural hazard. 85% of avalanche victims trigger their own slide (source: Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills).

i pray that Leo's post and Rick Kent's Summitpost are enough to discourage everyone from climbing this route.

NOTE: Climbers taking this route are trespassing on restricted water district property and a State Parks PERMIT IS REQUIRED.

[AlanK]

i sincerely pray that Leo's post and Rick Kent's Summitpost are enough to discourage everyone from climbing this route.

it should be noted that climbers taking this route are trespassing on restricted water district property and a permit from State Parks is also required.

Rick certainly didn't discourage Leo, but then Leo is obviously well-qualified and prepared for what he encountered. I certainly don't think that any average hikers would attempt the route based on what Rick and Leo posted.