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Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Humpback Mountain

Mothers Day trip to Humpback.

David Johnson David Johnson
May 09, 2021
  • Road rough but passable

  • Access to the trail up the embankment from the lower road is a bit gnarly, having you go under or over some newly fallen trees. The trail itself is pretty nice, but it is slick in places on the descent. The snow started above the upper road at about 3600 ft. In the upper rocky sections there are some deep holes in the snow around the rocks, but they were easy to avoid. The final steep slope to the summit was hard consolidated snow covered by 4+ inches of new. 

Party of 6. This was the first Mountaineers scramble for four students.

We met at 8:00am at the east end of Tinkham drive and carpooled up to the lower TH in two cars with masks on and windows opened. The road is potholed and rocky, but most cars can make it with careful driving. The many cars parked there were quartz crystal miners walking in with their buckets, shovels, and screens. 

The forecast originally called for partly sunny skies, but downgraded that morning to cloudy. The upper route received several inches of new snow the night before. 

We ascended the trail to the snow. Once we hit the old growth the new snow in the trees started melting, providing a steady downpour with the occasional snow sluff for spice.

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After the big trees we got axes out and helmets on and continued up the ridge. The final steep slope to the summit was hard consolidated snow covered by 4+ inches of new.  You could plunge the axe deep in stake position and kick decent steps, so it went okay even for the students. 

No views at the top because of the fog, so after bundling up and refueling we headed back down. We all faced in to downclimb the steepest bit. Luckily the big firs were no longer raining and we had a pleasant hike back down, saying hi to the many miners we passed on the lower road.  Hopped in the cars, navigated the potholes, and made it back to our meeting place at 1:20pm.