I had a really fun morning on Lake Mountain with Jun and Nate. We were not sure what the conditions would be like, so we took snow shoes, which meant carrying a backpack. Not ideal, but not too bad either. It was cold when we started just before 6:00 am and we took it pretty slow for the first mile to get warmed up.
The snow started after about a mile and there was a really good 4X4 track that we followed most of the way up. We made out way up hiking fast, and it was fun talking about various outdoor plans and the time flew by. The snow got deeper on the upper part of the mountain and the 4X4 tracks eventually went away. We followed what looked like a snowmobile track, but it wasn't great. Eventually we decided to put on the snow shoes just before the saddle and they really helped.
The push up to the summit was fun. Usually we post-hole a lot right there, but with the snow shoes it wasn't an issue. Jun made it up first, with Nate and I a few minutes behind. It was so cold and windy on top, and my camera was so cold it wouldn't work. That was the first time I have carried it in a few months, and I only got one picture in the dark. We didn't stay long at all because it was so cold. Jun and Nate took off fast and I was still putting by water bottle back into my pack so they got a pretty good lead on me. Jun flew down.
When I got back down to the saddle I went about 5 more minutes with the snow shoes and then I decided to replace them with my micro spikes, so I took a few minutes to put on my ipod and change to the spikes. From there it was a fun run all the way to the bottom. I had a pretty good pace going the whole way (7:30-8:10) and when I finally came out of the canyon I could see Nate a couple of minutes ahead of me, so I tried hard to catch him. I ran a 6:45 pace the final 3/4 of a mile and I almost reeled him in, but he just beat me to the car.
2800 ft vert. | 