Two-peak explore near Warm Lake.
- February 26, 2017
- Team: John and Art
- Peaks:
- Kline Mountain, 5946'
- Lists of John
- 892' gain, 1:30, 2.4 miles RT
- Curtis Peak, aka Peak 6648
- Lists of John
- 1452' gain, 3:30, 6.7 miles RT
- Kline Mountain, 5946'
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
We had noted these peaks on several trips into the South Fork, and they appeared both safe and new. Then NOAA issued a Winter Weather Advisory for our area, which was a good thing. Some fresh snow would cover the super-hard crust. But the accompanying wind could do something extra. So not sure of conditions, we loaded snowshoes, skis, beacons, etc. into the Suby, met John in Cascade, and were on our feet at about 9am, working our way up through the burn. Snowing lightly. Low cloud deck.
|
 |
John set his usual torrid pace. |
 |
And we were on top in about 45 minutes, despite multiple clothing changes and more than a few stories. I didn't take a picture, but we could sort of see our next objective, Curtis Peak. |
 |
Wait... is that thing over there higher? So we went over there. Then, fully satisfied, headed back to the car. |
 |
This was a fun snowshoe with great views. I'd like to go back on a sunny day. Map |
 |
The map showed a bridge across Curtis Creek a few miles back toward Cascade. About where the bridge might be, we found a plowed pullout. Sweet. Except the super-tall berm blocked our view, so we were not yet sure we were in the right place. So we booted down the hillside to where the GPS showed a road, and sure enough, there's the bridge. This is looking upstream from the bridge. |
 |
After crossing the bridge, we opted to simply follow the road. This road made for a very pleasant ski tour. Highly recommended! And despite the advisory, the weather was actually kind of pleasant. And the 2-3" of snow here was really nice to ski. |
 |
Again with the stories. And we stopped for lunch. When the road finally neared the ridge top, we climbed onto the ridge. Fortunately, the strong gusts of wind seemed to have lessened. |
 |
The last few feet looked like less than desirable ski touring, so Art and I booted it. John, on AT gear, skinned right up. Note that the fresh snow is a lot deeper here, like about 6-8". John was drooling. |
 |
| And I was going slow (my excuse: I was taking photos). But there's the summit. |  |
Summit. John had to have a go. So after a beacon check, he hit some turns. |
 |
I took a few photos, then Art and I booted back down to our gear. The low peak on the left is Kline Mountain, and the big white thing on the right is a frozen Warm Lake. Again, I'll need to go back on a clear day. |
 |
| After John met us, we on the way down and him skinning back up, we split routes. Art and I followed our track, and John took a shortcut down to get more turns. Lower on the road we met again and followed the road together for some distance, then repeated that routine. Here John takes another shortcut. |  |
As I stated earlier, this seemed like a really nice ski touring area. Parking spot. No snowmos. Low-angle road, and great views on top. Map |
 |
|
|
