Winter Scramble - First Top & Point 4795 Loop

Moonlit views of First Top from Pt 4795 on a very strenuous loop of ~5800’ gain and ~11 miles. For this trip we did First Top first, followed by Point 4795 above Lake Angeles. To reduce distance we traveled a direct cross country line on the ridge from the Heart of the Hills parking area to the summit of First Top (a bearing of ~218°). After descending our ascent route of First Top to ~3100’, we then followed a bearing of ~140° to intersect the Lake Angeles trail at ~2600’. Our last character building ascent followed the Lake Angeles trail (with quickly waning sunlight) to ~4200’, where we left the trail in darkness and headed west to reach the Point 4795 ridge crest. The last bit of ridge crest travel to Point 4795 afforded beautiful moonlight views of First Top. Time spent ascending was 7 hours (~4.2 hours of that to First Top), 4 hours of descent, and a brief 0.5 hour on both summits for a total time of 11.5 hours. For those of us on the prior trip where we used the reverse direction (Point 4795 first, then First Top), we all agreed that it is better doing First Top first as this leaves you with the final trail travel to the parking lot at the end of a very long day on the much more frequented Lake Angeles trail (with its greatly appreciated packed down snow). Photos from this and prior trips can be seen here.