Trip Report: Hike Storm Mountain from Furguson Canyon
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Hike Storm Mountain from Furguson Canyon By Mark Maier |
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| HIKE | 04/20/2024 | MSD |
| On Saturday 20-April we took advantage of the weather and stable snow conditions to do an early spring ascent of Storm Mountain via the west ridge (from Furguson canyon). Kevin, Ben, Eric, and Chris joined me for what was billed as a maybe hike, maybe snowshoe, maybe climb. Furguson park now has plenty of parking, albeit down the hill. We used the park and carpooled to the trail head. The trail was mostly snow free until well into the upper canyon, although the stream was running high in the lower canyon, frequently covering the trail. Once on the snow we found lots of breakable crust and slow going until we switched to snowshoes. We stashed the snowshoes and other heavy stuff in the upper meadow at about 8,600 feet and headed up the west ridge. Much of the ridge was exposed, dry rock, usually moderate class 3, but broken up with patches of crusty snow. The summit was completely snow covered, unlike last time I was up there at about this time. When doing the ridge it is fairly standard to descend via the south ridge (toward Twin Peaks) and eventually break away and drop down some moderate snow slopes. We wound our way down between rock bands and snow until we found a great spot to glissade. The angle was steep enough for a long, fun glissade while the snow was just about right, not so hard as to be scary and not so soft as to be no fun. Lower down we got our snowshoes back and hoped to repeat the glissade on the long 30 degree slope earlier in the canyon, but it didn't work well. The snow as a bit too soft and the angle keeps dropping you into the gully glissading feels like sliding down something that will rip your pants out. It went pretty fast anyway and soon we were back on the regular trail. Between the postholing, glissading, and the sun warmed wet snow we were all very wet, but just a reminder to keep a pair of dry socks in your pack, and maybe another in your car. |
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