Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Rock Mountain
This was an excellent snow scramble (with a bit of rock) to a summit with beautiful views on a beautiful day.
Fritz Klein
- Sat, May 27, 2017
- Alpine Scramble - Rock Mountain
- Rock Mountain
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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On this particular day, the trail was covered by snow above about 5000'. Somewhere between 5100' and 5200', we went up to the ridge and followed it (or stayed just below to the east).
There were lots of cornices on the upper south ridge, but it was easy to avoid them, first by getting to the ridge at a point south of all the cornices, and then by staying well to the west of ridge itself.
Snow conditions were quite variable, but never as hard and icy as I've experienced on other recent scrambles.
We saw a number of ticks, but we all apparently avoided getting bitten.
We hiked the Rock Mt. trail up many switchbacks until it was lost in the snow. Then it was all snow except for a short stretch of easy, slightly exposed rock near the top of the ridge at around 5400'. The views at the top were tremendous; many pictures were taken. On the way down, we found several places to practice glissading and self-arrest.