Third time is the charm on Lennox Mountain 3-23-2014

Lennox Mountain has been taunting me from afar since I first laid eyes on its rolling snowy slopes from somewhere within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I had hoped to continue on to Lennox after climbing Cleveland Mountain, and then from Canoe Peak but each time the summit seemed just out of reach. After conceding that this one would deserve the dedication of a full day, I began to look for the perfect snow conditions and weather forecast. With a Sunday that would live up to it's name and the lowest predicted avalanche danger in weeks I was confident that the third time would be the charm.


Lennox Mountain is ideally climbed (from the south, at least) with enough snow to ease travel through the thick brush which covers the forest floor for the first 1000' or so above the road. I was a bit surprised to find snow on road 5730 about 3 miles from the end. Some jeep ruts helped to get me and my crappy tires another half mile, and I was off with Maverick in tow by 6:30 am. The jeep tracks stopped just past Spur Road 113 where snowshoes instantly became necessary. McClain Peak and Mount Phelps lit up in alpenglow behind us, and what could only be Lennox Mountain briefly appeared ahead, though it looked oddly tame from this angle.



We left the road around 2600' in order to gain some elevation before crossing the next creek. While I thought at first we may have gone higher than required, we happened to cross just above the start of a deep, wide trench in the snow. I had hoped for a more consolidated snow pack but by 10 am the sun really began to bake the surface and each deep step brought with it a mound of slush caked onto my snowshoes. In a few steep sections I was forced to make painfully mellow switchbacks so that Maverick could get somewhere with his efforts.

Bearhead Mountain (Attempt) 3-15-2014

This was my and Colin's first outing with the Mountaineers. When we saw a new summit listed as the destination for a conditioner we jumped at the opportunity to avoid a weekend trip to Mount Si. With no recent beta I set my expectations low as our convoy climbed as close to the trailhead as the snow would allow. We made it to about 3600' and after a quick weigh in we were breaking trail under rolling snow clouds. The overcast layer slowly rose through the day and provided several sun breaks, as well as a few brief flurries.

Bearhead and Pitcher Mountains each came into view during the roadwalk. We reached the trailhead in just over an hour. Twin Lake was hardly noticeable under snow when we cruised past it. Beyond the lake snowshoeing was a pain on the steep traverse and the trail became faint. Beyond that the slopes grew steeper as we climbed higher, some of us even debated switching to crampons. Around 5500' we reached a clearing with a nice little bench just in time for a short break. Beyond Cayada Mountain Tolmie, Howard and Florence were capped in snow.