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Valerie and myself arrived a little later than expected at 9AM. There were only a few cars in the lot. I spoke briefly with one of three heading up Lower Wolfjaw. It was cool but not cold. For this trip I decided to skip the gortex bib/pants for a cheap waterproof layer and my nylon EMS hiking pants underneath. I was warm most of the day as temps rose into the 30s. Maybe 3" of snow on the ground, some of it fresh from the prior night.
It was partly sunny the first half of the hike. We could catch glimpses of Sawteeth and Pyramid through the bare trees as we approached the lower Ausable Lake. Having views from the valleys you don't get the rest of the year is one of the perks to winter hiking. We stopped at Rainbow Falls and took some more photos. It was frozen over with a single flume of water cascading down the ice.
We headed up the Weld trail, with some slipping and sliding. There was definitely NOT enough snow for snowshoes, and crampons would have just been hitting rock the entire way. So we opted to bareboot it as far as we could (which ended up being to the summit). Snow did get slightly deeper on top, but no more than 8-10". I was expecting a little more as the mountains coming in from the highway looked impressive in their snow-covered state.
The views on the way up and at the summit were great. Despite the cloud cover, we could see most of the upper great range clearly. Dix and Marcy were the only peaks in view that had their summits shrouded by clouds.
We made it back to the car by 5:30PM, using headlamps for the last hour. Temps were around freezing and the air was pretty still. It was very calm and we stopped a few times to soak it in.
Congrats to Val on #42. It was a very challenging hike because of the conditions but well worth it.
Valerie and myself arrived a little later than expected at 9AM. There were only a few cars in the lot. I spoke briefly with one of three heading up Lower Wolfjaw. It was cool but not cold. For this trip I decided to skip the gortex bib/pants for a cheap waterproof layer and my nylon EMS hiking pants underneath. I was warm most of the day as temps rose into the 30s. Maybe 3" of snow on the ground, some of it fresh from the prior night.
It was partly sunny the first half of the hike. We could catch glimpses of Sawteeth and Pyramid through the bare trees as we approached the lower Ausable Lake. Having views from the valleys you don't get the rest of the year is one of the perks to winter hiking. We stopped at Rainbow Falls and took some more photos. It was frozen over with a single flume of water cascading down the ice.
We headed up the Weld trail, with some slipping and sliding. There was definitely NOT enough snow for snowshoes, and crampons would have just been hitting rock the entire way. So we opted to bareboot it as far as we could (which ended up being to the summit). Snow did get slightly deeper on top, but no more than 8-10". I was expecting a little more as the mountains coming in from the highway looked impressive in their snow-covered state.
The views on the way up and at the summit were great. Despite the cloud cover, we could see most of the upper great range clearly. Dix and Marcy were the only peaks in view that had their summits shrouded by clouds.
We made it back to the car by 5:30PM, using headlamps for the last hour. Temps were around freezing and the air was pretty still. It was very calm and we stopped a few times to soak it in.
Congrats to Val on #42. It was a very challenging hike because of the conditions but well worth it.
Happiest in the woods
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