Her car is the first one at the parking lot outside of Steven's Pass Nordic Center (gate is closed). We both already had boots and gaiters on, and snowshoes packed, so it was quick, even after using the honey bucket (in decent condition). We were on the trail before 8am. Elevation ~3000'. Almost sunny.
Lanham Lake Trail has a visible track or tracks all the way to the lake.
The beginning of the trail was very icy. MH fell right away, as I was putting on micro-spikes.
Stay on the right (west) side of Lanham Creek.
At about 0.5 mile, ~3440', 8:02am, junction to a road and the powerline towers.
At about 2 miles, ~4100', 8:35am, Lanham Lake. Saw tracks across the lake, but we didn't want to risk it.
This photo is taken on the way back, where we stopped for almost 10 minutes watching this ptarmigan walking and postholing in the snow. Very funny.
Put on snowshoes at the lake. We skirted on the left (east).
The next 1500' is quite steep. I started to lag behind MH.
Better footing here than the lower slope of Rock Mt of 2 weeks ago.
Here, wider slopes allows zigzag. Snow on dirt, not on rock. Snowshoes worked well.
Found a few pink ribbons tied on trees in the lower half of this slope
At ~9:50, I reached the ridge, elevation ~5500'. Views openned up.
We could see Hwy-2 below, and also Rock Mountain that we both climbed 2 weeks ago.
More clouds. We followed the ridge up (less steep now), mostly stayed on its right (west) slope, except at the end, I skirted to its left slope.
As we went higher, we could see Glacier Peak, but soon it disappeared into the clouds.
Finally we reached the bowl under Jim Hill's 2 peaks.
We dumped snowshoes at the bottom of the peak to the right (west).
MH put on her helmet. We switched to crampons.
It took me a long time to tie on my new corded crampons, using a new threading method. It works well.
The top ridge is scary. Probably the most dangerous one I climbed this year.
It's super narrow, just snow dumped on rocks. At least the snow is thick. The crampons don't hold on to anything.
I called up to MH ahead of me, telling her to go on without me, I may turn around at any point.
Took me awhile to make my first step on the first snow bridge.
Walked/crawled gingerly, following MH's footsteps (no track before we arrived).
Every single step has to be stable. Either side, if I lose balance, will be disastrous.
At the last sketchy slope, MH was already turning around.
She waited for me at the other side, and then, accompanied me to the summit again.
The last part is easy. The summit is actually rather flat, where we can walk around and take photos.
11:40.
Great view, could be better. Thick dark clouds.
Crawled back gingerly.
Before swapping snowshoes on, ate lunch.
Going down is fast. Got back to the lake at 13:20, saw the ptarmigan walking on the lake shore.
We walked around him, he didn't run away. The poor bird was postholing into the snow.
Back to the car at 14:10.
Changed out my wet boots/socks. Chatted with 2 skiers parked next to us.
They went for a loop out of Henry Creek. Didn't climb.
I was intrigued by the "remodel" of their van. They gracefully showed us what they did.
2 sections of wood platform which they can fold up.
There were 6 cars now. We didn't see anyone while on the trail.
Back in Seattle at 16:30. Cooked dinner, showered, set up my alarm for 8:30pm before taking a nap. Headed to SeaTac to return the car. 3 times to the airport this weekend.
Update: my legs and arms were sore until Wednesday.
