Norse Peak

Perfect day for a trip up to Norse Pk. Perfect weather, road in great condition, trail in great condition, snow nice condition, last weekend before the ski area opens for winter (no traffic issues).

We headed up the trail at 8 AM. The snow was constant from the gated FS road, all the way up to the ridge. There was one other car at the trailhead when we left. We met them as we attained the ridge- the party of 4 had summited and were returning down. Thus, they had broken the trail for us, meaning we could just enjoy the route without finding it in the snow. We both wore our backpacking boots with gators, with easy travel in the slightly packed, crisp, powdery snow.

At about 6100 feet we finally tired of irregular post holing and donned snowshoes. From this point we paralleled descending tracks of mountain goats, but never did see them.

On the ridge, there were some cornices, all stable, with intermittent bare rock, making walking the ridge a bit tricky with snowshoes, especially when routing through the treetops.

We arrived at the summit exactly at noon, enjoyed a sunny lunch with views of Rainier, Adams, the Stewart Range, the Enchantments and the Olympics.

Returning down, as the snow had softened with the warm day, we kept the snowshoes on until about 5800 ft, quickly descending the remaining route with boots and poles. The trip down took half the time- 2 hours.

It was a glorious day, very grateful for it!