Thompson Point Scramble Attempt

It was like trying to move ascend a sno-cone! I wish I had brought my snowshoes. I don't know if I would have achieved the point, but I would have gotten a lot farther.

It was a warm day, and there has been a lot of rain recently. The old Forest Service Road is alternately under deep snow, maybe 6-8 ft. and melted out at gullies and culverts. I postholed through snow for about 900 ft., working my way around wells and slide alder in the road, until I reached a melted out gully that was deeper than I am tall. I turned back.

Thinking that maybe instead I could bushwack up the ridge, I made it maybe 15 feet before again sinking too many times too deep near tree wells.

At that I decided to give up but since it was still very early in the day, wander onto Thompson Lake. Once I entered the forest cover, the snow was very consolidated, even icy. I made it to the ridge above the lake. By then the expected weather front was heading in, I'd had enough and turned back to the trailhead. (Sure enough, the rain started and intensified until I was soaked when I returned.)

Looking back over my route, with snow conditions and the gpx routes of others, I now speculate that I might have been able to follow the west ridge above Thompson Lake to the point. With the tree canopy and the elevation, the snow was hard, enough that I needed microspikes to keep from sliding. (I also wished at times I had brought my ice axe....)

Maybe all in all it was a "bring everything, and the kitchen sink" day- poles, axe, spikes, snowshoes, raingear and a good battery for navigating if using altimeter and gps.