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Peak(s):  Mt. Princeton  -  14,200 feet
Date Posted:  10/26/2015
Date Climbed:   10/25/2015
Author:  dirtbagdame
 Princeton winter ascent; 8hrs   

According to strava...
Elevation Gain: 5,189
Mileage: 13.8
Time RT: 8hrs

7:30am - TH
The access road (closed now to cars) was fairly dry for the first 2 miles. As soon as my trail runners began to slip on ice I pulled out my microspikes.

9am - Tower (mi 3.2)
I met a sweet elderly man named Fan at the towers who spent time helping me figure out how to fix my loose microspikes and also drew me a map in the snow to help me find my way to the summit. He was nervous that I was alone and attempting to summit Princeton with all the fresh snow. What a kind soul! Just as he had explained, I followed 4 large switchbacks and then found the built up stairs on the right side of the road, about 1.5 miles up from the radio tower.

10am - Stairs (mi 4.8)
And then the party started. For the first 0.5 miles or so the snow wasn't so bad. I met a nice couple who had camped at the radio tower. I was impressed they had gotten that far without traction. And then... post hole mania that seemed to go on forEVER. The couple turned around, but I could see the summit wasn't that far and strava told me I only had about a mile left to go (does anyone know why strava seems to add mileage?). Slogging through knee-high snow and trying to dodge hidden sharp boulders seriously wiped me out. To top it off, I lost the foot prints I was following and had to trail blaze what I thought was the path of least resistance. I ended up hiking straight uphill to the ridge line because it seemed there was less snow up there. Apologies if anyone tries to follow those prints this week, definitely a thigh burner.

12:30pm - Summit (mi 6.9)
Coming down the snow covered rocks was challenging to say the least. I tried to follow my footprints, but I either couldn't find them or the wind filled them in with snow so I ended up post-holing all over again and nearly twisted my ankle a number of times.

3:30pm - car

Lessons: bring snowshoes? But really, does anyone know how to avoid post-holing in soft snow?



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
Exiled Michigander
User
Winter . . .
10/26/2015 3:09pm
... begins at 9:47 p.m. on December 21 this year.


JQDivide
User
#NotWinter
10/26/2015 3:46pm
Sorry, snow conditions does not mean it is a "winter" ascent. Must be within "calendar" winter.

But thanks for the time line.

JQ


Count40
User
Thanks for the report
11/22/2015 8:35pm
Will appreciate your future reports. This one helped a lot. Needed in these transitional conditions.



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