If you remember my post from a month ago, we went snowshoeing and were trying to find the Guye Peak trail but were a bit confused. This past weekend we went snowshoeing with our friend Tom and decided just to park at Snoqualmie and head out into Commonwealth Basin and see where the day took us. There are a multitude of trails winding through the basin and we didn't have a particular agenda, so just kept to the left.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and the views were spectacular thanks to the fresh snow coating everything. There was at foot of new snow on the ground, only lightly packed on the trail.
After a couple hours we saw ahead what every snowshoer dreads - people breaking the trail you were on. Ok, that was dramatic, it's not really dreaded but it often means those ahead aren't on a particular trail (and therefore may not be going anywhere interesting/with a view) and it always means that you are going to catch up to them and have to start breaking trail yourself. Which is hard work. But we're tough (hah) so we just laughed at ourselves and kept going.
We caught up to the group of four guys at the top of the ridge and after some friendly greetings they asked 'where are you headed?' Matt and Tom looked at each other sheepishly and I laughed and asked them where we were. They in turn laughed at us, the snowshoers who not only didn't know where they were going, but where they even where (the thing with snowshoeing is, as long as there's not blizzard, you can always follow your trail back). They pointed out Snoqualmie Mountain one direction from the ridge and low and behold, Guye Peak the other direction. Snoqualmie Mountain looked big, so we headed for Guye Peak. It's a clifflike rock face on three sides, but there's a ridge along the back (that's climbable, though Class 4 in the summer and steep in the winter). Taking care for avalanches and cornices we picked our way to the top.
The views were fantastic - probably my favorite snowshoe so far. After a snack we turned down and were back in the city for NYE.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and the views were spectacular thanks to the fresh snow coating everything. There was at foot of new snow on the ground, only lightly packed on the trail.
After a couple hours we saw ahead what every snowshoer dreads - people breaking the trail you were on. Ok, that was dramatic, it's not really dreaded but it often means those ahead aren't on a particular trail (and therefore may not be going anywhere interesting/with a view) and it always means that you are going to catch up to them and have to start breaking trail yourself. Which is hard work. But we're tough (hah) so we just laughed at ourselves and kept going.
We caught up to the group of four guys at the top of the ridge and after some friendly greetings they asked 'where are you headed?' Matt and Tom looked at each other sheepishly and I laughed and asked them where we were. They in turn laughed at us, the snowshoers who not only didn't know where they were going, but where they even where (the thing with snowshoeing is, as long as there's not blizzard, you can always follow your trail back). They pointed out Snoqualmie Mountain one direction from the ridge and low and behold, Guye Peak the other direction. Snoqualmie Mountain looked big, so we headed for Guye Peak. It's a clifflike rock face on three sides, but there's a ridge along the back (that's climbable, though Class 4 in the summer and steep in the winter). Taking care for avalanches and cornices we picked our way to the top.
The views were fantastic - probably my favorite snowshoe so far. After a snack we turned down and were back in the city for NYE.
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