Spinning our Wheels on Spinnaker

So much for Sailing up the Mountain

According to Wikipedia “A spinnaker is a special type of sail that is designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind”. This was certainly not the case for us. It was more like the opposite, but it was not the wind that was the problem, it was the snow.

Litchenberg during the Morning

As usual we get up at 3 a.m. and head on out to Steven’s Pass. Starting out was a nice snowy road walk which did not require snowshoes. After about .75 miles we reached the end of the road which was time to put the snowshoes. We then hiked a while through the woods trying to work our way up the valley. We were making decent time until we started encountering bad snow which one would call “punchy and hard” which is terrible for traveling and a lot of effort.

The Sunrise

There was one spot that was worthy of mentioning which is the creek crossing, even though it is easy and we did not actually touch any water, it was a snow bridge and would recommend being careful here. Looking off to the side it was amazing to see how big the snow creek banks got. Although Michael did most of the work for breaking trail, we swapped off positions back and forth. The past previous 2 days I had been doing trips back to back which I decided to take it “easy”.

Deep Snowy Creek

Snow Banks along the Creek

Deep Snow Hole

After a hard effort we got to point 5261 just shy of a mile high. We got some decent views of peaks through the mist, although looking at the summit looked tempting, we timed out due to Eastking’s work so we bailed back down.

Spinnaker’s True Summit

Michael Exhausted on the False Summit

Eastking Almost There

Looking Towards Leavenworth

The Foggy Pathwat

Snow Covered Meadows

Misty Panoramic View

I’m sad to say the day before this trip I got my pack soaked from landing in a creek which may have ruined my camera so I apologize if the photography is not as good as usual. It is also harder to do with the camera I was using because I used a video camera which for some reason would view times 3 in, but actually take the photo different. The descent was much nicer although still a bit chunky. Thanks Eastking for inviting us!

Mount Index on the Way Home