Winter Hike

I have been reading a few winter mountaineering books this year so it got me motivated to try one of my own. Wanted to do Tablerock since it is such a good hike in the summer and I know people do it in the winter. Had to xc ski into the trailhead about 3.5 miles and snowshoe about 4 to the top. Luckily there were 3 snowmachines parked at the trailhead which resulted in 5 guys being ahead of me breaking the trail. Made the trail easy to follow. I've tried going up the face a couple of times in the summer but turn around because it is so steep and hot. Snowshoes and the wide trail were easier than hiking. About 1 mile from the summit the clouds rolled in and it started snowing. About .5 mile from the summit it got so thick I couldn't even see Tablerock. From there the wind started blowing like crazy. I couldn't even eat my victory candybar because the wind was blowing snow around so bad.







There had been six people on snowshoes covering the last quarter mile. When I started down the wind had drifted in any sign of mine or their snowshoe tracks. I didn't get any pics from the top because I couldn't see anything and the wind was blowing 100 miles and hour. 30 minutes later after I was down quite aways the wind stopped and the sun came out. Most of my pics are from the way down.




One last look back up the trail before I desend down the face to the trailhead.


Untracked snow everywhere was just gorgeous, couldn't capture it in a picture though.

Pretty sure I have never been above 11k feet before hiking in the winter. It was great aside from the summit storm. I do feel bad though because I left my great wife home with sick kids inturn making herself sick while I was off hiking/skiing for 9 hours. Sure am glad she loves me.