Mt Sniktau – Wild Wanderer

RT Length – 3.7 miles

Elevation Gain – 1474’

I’ve already climbed Mt Sniktau before so this isn’t much of a trip report but more journaling. A detailed trip report of Mt Sniktau can be found here.

Steffen asked me to take him hiking a 13er and to be honest the weather everywhere in the state was terrible for today. We’re talking 50+ mph winds and snow. Lots of snow. In fact, Mt Sniktau had snow forecasted to begin at 11am, so I figured we should start early. He met at my house at 3am and we carpooled there. I drove, and found it odd to have someone else to talk with in the car. There was rock mitigation work along I70 which seemed to come out of nowhere but I was glad they were working on the problem (large boulders landed on the road, blocking an entire lane).

We arrived at the London Pass trailhead at 5:45am, the only ones parked in the lot, and spent some time in the truck putting on our snowshoes and gear. It was dark so I couldn’t tell if we needed snowshoes or not, but figured it best to put them on when it was warm and take them off if necessary. Another vehicle pulled into the lot and a man started hiking a little before we did. We started on the trail a little after 6am.

There was a faint trail in the snow up the ridge, and after about 100 yards there was enough light to see we didn’t need snowshoes so we took them off. We quickly caught up to and passed the hiker in front of us, who was intent on “Cupid” and maybe Grizzly. We wished him luck and followed the ridge.

The forecast called for snow and it looked like it was rolling in. Luckily we were always in sight of the trailhead so I wasn’t too worried about the weather.

Steffen was doing great physically but was having minor difficulties breathing so we took breaks every now and then so he could catch his breath. He was a champ though and did a great job keeping up and not complaining. We followed the ridge to the summit.

There’s a large cornice on the top of Mt Sniktau Steffen had fun playing on, which terrified me a little…

Looking at the weather over Grays and Torreys we decided it was time to head back

Along the way I taught Steffen a little about how to self arrest with an ice axe and he spent some time practicing. This is a really good skill to know how to use when climbing in winter conditions. Remember to keep those spikes up!

We didn’t see another hiker the entire day, which seemed odd for this peak. It’s a popular one even on bad weather days because the trailhead is accessible and this is an ‘easy’ 13er.

We made it back to the truck at 8:30am, making this a 3.7 mile hike with 1494’ of elevation gain in 2.5 hours. The weather had been a bit gloomy but not too windy and as an added bonus we missed the snow!

On our way home we discovered why no one else was out hiking Mt Sniktau today: I70 was closed where the rock mitigation was this morning and there were backups for miles and miles and miles in both directions as drivers exited and had to find an alternate route. It didn’t look like anyone was going skiing/snowshoeing/hiking here today, and to make it worse this was a holiday weekend. It was a good thing we left so early: we were lucky to have missed the traffic!

RT Length: 8 miles

Elevation Gain: 3662’

I made it to the trailhead at 4am and was the only vehicle in the lot. There was room for about 10 cars, but I’m sure when there isn’t snow there’s room for many, many more.

It was much colder than anticipated when I left my truck for the trail, but I figured it was due to the elevation and unexpected wind. I quickly put on my balaclava and hat. I was the only one at the trailhead when I arrived, and about a quarter mile up the trail couldn’t remember if I’d left the lights on inside my truck. I looked behind me and couldn’t see them glowing in the dark, so I crossed my fingers and kept on hiking. If it were light out I would have been able to clearly see the route before me up to point 12,915, but since it was dark I just kept heading straight up the ridge.

After about half a mile I reluctantly put on my snowshoes. They weren’t absolutely necessary, but I was getting tired of surprise postholing. The terrain went from snow covered to ice covered to bare over and over again.

After a mile I made it to the top of Point 12,915 and decided to summit Cupid and Grizzly first, so I turned right and headed over to Cupid.

This was a fairly easy walk that would have been even easier without all the wind.

The last bit up Cupid was covered in crusty snow

From Cupid I could just see the route I’d taken and Sniktau in the dark

And Torreys, Grays, and Grizzly Peak D

Now it was time to head over to Grizzly Peak by continuing southeast down and along a ridge.

Right about now the sun started to rise, but that wind just wouldn’t let up!

Check out those cornices!

The cornices had me a little worried, so when I hit the rock outcropping I did some class 3 moves in my snowshoes while downclimbing the rocks (not my brightest idea). Once I was past them and turned around I realized it would have been safer to just have gone over the what I thought had been cornices but was actually just snow (so that’s what I did on my way back).

Dotted line is the route I took on my way down, solid is the way back up

From the saddle between Cupid and Grizzly is where the wind really started picking up and the clouds started rolling in. I was a bit upset, I mean it was supposed to be a sunny day with little wind, and at this point it was neither. This is also where the cornices looked dangerous. This one looks ready to drop!

I stayed to the right of the cornices. The clouds suddenly began to clear and I could now see the route up Grizzly.

I started up Grizzly and turned to look back at those cornices one more time

All of the sudden I heard what sounded like a gunshot and just about jumped out of my skin! It took me a second, but I soon realized the sound was an explosive for avalanche mitigation. I heard about 10 more of them throughout the morning, and while I looked for the resulting avalanches I never saw them. Yes, the sound surprised me every time.

At this point in the hike I should have taken off my snowshoes, but I really didn’t want to carry them so I just kept them on. There is a bit of a false summit to this peak

And in the end I was glad I’d kept the snowshoes on because there was snow to contend with towards the summit that required snowshoes and my ice axe as well.

I summited right at 7am. I know this because my phone alarm went off and I called my daughter to wake her up for school. So yes, there’s reception on top of this peak.

Grizzly Video

Here’s a look back on the route to get here

Now that the wind had driven the clouds away the views were amazing!

OK, time to head back down.

These cornices are much bigger and steeper than they look.

I was once again glad I had my ice axe as I just went up and over the snow on the rock outcropping, no longer worried I’d be in trouble if I fell.

OK, so back on Cupid I could see the route up Sniktau

This route had cornices too, but they were very easily avoidable and none looked in danger of falling anytime soon.

There’s a false summit on this one, but I’d known that from seeing it from the other peaks earlier this morning. The snow cover here ranged from nonexistent to about 2 feet deep. I didn’t really need my snowshoes, but once again I was glad to have them on. I traded my ice axe in for my trekking pole and trekked to the summit. The slope was nice and gentle. I didn’t even need to stop to catch my breath.

I summited at about 9:30am

Sniktau Video

Here’s a look back on the route from Grizzly to Sniktau

I made my way back to Point 12,915 and headed back to the trailhead.

Now I started seeing people: Groups and groups of people, all hiking up the slope. Everyone had on microspikes, and no one was wearing snowshoes. Oh well, their loss. I guess some people like postholing 6 inches a step for miles at a time. Personally, I’d rather float. This had been a pretty easy hiking day for me, and I wasn’t even tired.

I made it back to the trailhead at 10:30am, making this an 8 mile hike in 6 hours. Oh, and no, I hadn’t left my lights on (whew!)

I was really, really glad the wind had stopped sometime while I was headed up Sniktau, and now I was quite warm but still bundled up. I talked with a few skiers at the trailhead who asked me why I was still covered from head to toe and I gave them the honest answer: I didn’t want to have to put on sunscreen.

Relive

Tag: Mt Sniktau

Mt Sniktau – 13,234

Cupid – 13,117, Grizzly – 13,427 & Sniktau – 13,234