We visit an old friend, Gallagher Peak, in more snow.
- February 10, 2021
- Team: Craig, Dave, Art, and Tom
- Peak: Gallagher Peak, 6100'
- 5.9 mi, 2923' gain, 5:25 car-to-car, Class 1 & 2
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
The guys said they wanted to do something different. Our standard Jug Res ski was seeming a little too familiar. Same with the North Valley Rail Trail. We need an adventure! So I chose to head south to introduce them to an old fave. As we drove down Hwy 55, we were inspecting the snow depth with some concern. But heading up the South Fork, and finally parking, the snow depth was as expected: some, but not a lot. And south-facing slopes largely melted out. |
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Craig got his elk fix. |
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Nice day- we're headed up there. If you zoom in and look closely, you'll see some of them. |
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And there were mulies, too. |
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Some hiking in dirt, some in snow. |
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Our hard pull up to the saddle deserved a tea break. Dry ground to sit on in sunshine. What could be better? |
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And then it was back to work, now with slowshoes on. |
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| Too bad the weather wasn't better. |  |
Not done with the Up yet. Thankfully, the brush is less of a concern this time of year. |
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| Our summit finally in sight. |  |
Tired legs grinding up the final climbs.
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Finally leveling out. With no more Up, this must be the summit. |
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Views, views, views. Note the mare's tails (mares' tails?). Our hard work of grooming a snowshoe track will probably disappear tomorrow. |
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Summit shot. Our combined climbing age was something over 300. #]*%@ 300! |
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| The crux section is a little tricky on the way up. More so on the way down, especially since what had been frozen snow had lost some adhesion from sitting in the sun. |  |
| We tried a couple methods for dealing with the steep, rocky face and slippery snow. |  |
| Using the trees was highly recommended. If not for actual handholds, at least as sort of a backstop; there's a bit of a drop to the left here. |  |
| After that adrenaline-inducing slip-fest, some soothing downhill ridge trudging. |  |
| And then back to the bottom of the canyon to learn a little about local CCC history from the Troutnerpedia. |  |
See Dave's photos. For a map, see one of the reports at the top of this page. |
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