Basic Snowshoe - Hyak Lake & Nordic Pass

Tibbetts Park and Ride in Issaquah (SR-900), 7:45am.  The trip starts in the Summit Central ski area, so we're getting an early start to avoid the crowds.

The goal of this trip is to explore the area between the Summit Central and Hyak ski areas up to the summit of Ski Acres Hill (the high point of the ridge above the PCT where it passes over the Snoqualmie tunnel).   We will start and end at the base of Summit Central's Silver Fir chairlift, which offers heated bathrooms and access to hot apres-snowshoe drinks.  The planned route  starts by approximately following the Nordic Pass Trail to Hyak Lake, then embarks on a clockwise loop that visits Surveyor's Lake, follows the ridge up and over the summit of Ski Acres Hill (elevation 4212'), visits Divide Lake, then skirts the south edge of the Summit Central ski runs back to the start point.   This is not one of the standard Mountaineers snowshoe routes and is new to the trip leaders, so we'll be doing some exploring and route finding as we go. 

Even though the attitude of the trip will be casual (we're there to have fun), an elevation gain of 1500' in snow is substantial so please be sure your conditioning is adequate.  We do not plan to go fast but do plan to make steady progress.  This trip is at the high end of Easy+ in the old Snowshoe trip ratings, and is an S2/T2 in the new ratings.

The route intentionally avoids avalanche terrain, so is safe from cancellation due to all but the most extreme avy forecasts.   We expect to go even if the weather is less than perfect, however truly bad weather will cancel the trip.

Sunrise is at about 7:50am and sunset is about 4:20pm.