Stats:
Roundtrip: 8.4 miles
Trailhead: about 2000′
Gain: 3100′
Summit: 5107′
Temperature: 32F
Wind: 10 MPH
Trail & Map View
Here.
Gear:
- Lower Body:
- Upper Body:
- 1 t-shirt
- 1 long sleeve layer
- 1 fleece jacket
- 1 puffy jacket
- 1 shell jacket
- Backpack: Osprey Talon 33L
- Poles: TRAIL TREKKING POLES – WOMEN’S
- Water: Platypus Hoser 2.0L Reservoir
- Gloves: 2 pairs (thin & thick)
- Hat & Scarf
- Other accessories: Kleenex, hand warmer, 1 extra pair of socks, head lamp, sun glasses (very important on the snow), 1 person first aid kit, 1 Swiss knife.
Comments and learnings on the gear:
I always have issues with bringing too much gear or not enough. I hope I will get to the point where I’ll know what exactly I need. Few learnings from this trip:
On Lower Body Gear (above):
- Mountaineering Boots were not necessary. Any waterproof boots would have worked. However, since I just bought them, it’s a good think to break them in. Also, I wasn’t used with having more weight than usual on my feet. Hence, I was really sore the next day. Good to get used to it, so I will be prepare when I do a bigger hike/climb. Also, because I didnt use thick socks the foot was a bit sliding when going down. But with my thicker socks it will work perfectly. However, I didnt need the thicker socks, even though my feet were cold at the beginning. Once I start moving it was really warm. One guy said that I could buy toes warmer than stick to your socks. Good idea!
- Snowshoes were horrible. Too bulky with no teeth on the sides. Hence, it was very hard to walk due to the weight and constant sliding on a side. First thing I’ll do I will buy the best one out there that people on the hike recommended: MSR Lightning™ Ascent Snowshoes Women
- Waterproof pants would have been necessary if it was raining. But it wasn’t.
On Upper Body Gear (above):
- I should have brought another tshirt and long sleeve layer. Because I sweat a lot, going down it was a bit cold with under layers all wet – even if I had 3 jackets on top. However, I need to buy them.
- Fleece jacket was too tight. I’m on the market for a better one, maybe even lighter.
- My puffy jacket is the best ever! My favorite gear out of all!
On other gear (above):
- Water hose – I hate it because it can’t be turn off, hence most of the time is leaking on me. This time was on my phone. Plus in the winter the hose can freeze. Hence, the guys on the trail recommended me to get insulated hose. I didn’t know it existed. So I’ll look it up.
- Gloves: I was cold with my thinner pair of gloves. But the thicker ones are too bulky with no dexterity. Need to find a better pair, something in between.
- Thicker scarf required. The thinner scarf is perfect going up because I get super hot. But going down I need a thinker one. I was cold.
Other gear that people recommended on this hike:
- Backpack: Black diamond Speed 30. It looked pretty light and resistant.
- Toe warmer
- MSR snowshoes
- Water reservoir with insulated hose
TODO:
- Buy: snowshoes, gloves, water reservoir with insulated hose, under layers (t-shirt and long sleeves).
- Train my endurance more. While asking the experienced folks on the hike, they weren’t doing anything different than what I’m already doing. However, it seems that short distance speed running was the main activity that everybody was doing.
Comments and learnings on hiking:
- I learned how to use the snowshoes when going down. Basically if you put your weight on the back, on your hill (like you will normally do when you walk) you will slide as on skis. Hence, put the weight in front and the crampons will stick in the snow. (It’s counter intuitive, and also a bit scary, but once I got used to it, it was actually fun and I could speed up the walk).
Hike Highlights
Needless to say that I was worried for nothing for this hike. I thought it will be exposed after reading some of the posts around walking on the ridge. It wasn’t that exposed. I felt safe all the way. We had amazing and
breath taking views of Rainier, Stuart and Lake Cle Elum.
We were lucky to have some experienced folks with us to break the trail. I was second in the line at some point. And it’s damn hard to break the snow. However, I want to learn to trace a trail by looking at the map. Even though I had the AllTrail map, I couldn’t figure out exactly how it goes. Hopefully soon I will master this skill. It will be very useful for me to feel safe if I get lost or so. I’m always thinking what happen if I get lost. Will I know to get back? Also, what happen if I slip and get hurt? I need to be prepared for this and think about it. Do I have enough food and layers to stay there for a few hours or a night until somebody finds me?
