Big Cedar Tree,
Dutch Miller Gap trail #1030 | 
Cascades on the Middle
Fork Snoqualmie River | 
Dutch Miller Gap trail, with
Mt. Hinman in the distance |
Hiking dirty snow and trees
on the Dutch Miller Gap trail | 
David skiing below
Iron Cap Mountain | 
Overcoat Peak from Dutch
Miller Gap trail; Chimney Rock |
Picturesque Point 6324,
northwest of Overcoat Peak | 
Bears Breast Mountain from
Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley | 
Bears Breast Mountain |
Sunset reflection of northern
ridge of Bears Breast Mountain | 
Sunset on
Little Big Chief Mountain | 
Sunset reflection of
Bears Breast Mountain |
Morning sun on camp | 
Summit Chief Mountain from
Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley | 
Skiing near Williams Lake
toward climb to Chain Lakes |
Northeast slopes of Little Big
Chief Mountain; glide cracks | 
Skiing across
Chain Lakes basin | 
Looking south across
Chain Lakes basin |
Heading toward the west
ridge of Mt. Hinman | 
Skiing up the west ridge
of Mount Hinman | 
Summit rim of Mt.
Hinman from the west |
Skiing the last bit to Mount
Hinman's true summit | 
NE slopes of Bears Breast
Mountain from Mt. Hinman | 
A little ski maintenance on top |
Looking west from Mount
Hinman to Big Snow Mountain | 
Mount Daniel
from Mt. Hinman | 
A few turns on the Foss
Glacier before traversing |
Bears Breast Mountain
to Overcoat Peak | 
David skiing near the
top of the Hinman Glacier | 
Traversing on
the Hinman Glacier |
Nice corn snow skiing
on the Hinman Glacier | 
Heading down
the Hinman Glacier | 
David skiing on
the Hinman Glacier |
Heading for the run
toward La Bohn Lakes | 
More turns on good snow | 
David skiing the last drop
above La Bohn Lakes |
"There might be some
skiable terrain around here" | 
Northeast slopes of Little Big
Chief Mountain; glide cracks | 
Scenic Little
Big Chief Mountain |
Hiking back through the forest
on the Dutch Miller Gap trail | 
Western Trillium (Trillium
ovatum) along the trail | 
Failed joke boot and
successful but tired skier |
Photos by Charles Eldridge
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Backcountry skiing trip report:
May 13-14, 2006, Mount Hinman via Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, Dutch Miller Gap trail, Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, Washington
David and I got a view from Big Snow Mountain ten days prior of the route up Mt. Hinman via the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River valley and it looked good, so we decided to try it as a day-and-a-half trip. We were able to drive to within a few minutes walk of the trailhead for the Dutch Miller Gap trail, #1030, after the adventurous drive up the Middle Fork road. We both took waxless skis and joke tele boots (leather), David having discovered a pair at his house that a former roommate had abandoned. My boots worked fine, but David's turned out to be no laughing matter. About four and a half miles in, right under Iron Cap Peak, the sole of one boot peeled away from the upper. David ended up hiking back to the car that evening, spending the night there, then hiking back to meet me at my camp the next morning, wearing his new pair of Excursions which he had fortunately brought in the car. So in the end, David ended up doing Mt. Hinman as a day trip, about 18 miles, after a 9 mile warm up hike the afternoon before! David is the only person with whom I have skied who could have done this (and I know I could not have done it).
We left the car at 2:30 PM on Saturday and the first few miles of the Dutch Miller Gap trail were largely melted out, but with 3-4 foot deep areas in dense shade; the trail was pretty easy to follow, and the hiking was generally good. At about 3700 feet where the trail starts under the avalanche slopes of Iron Cap Mountain we started skiing, and about a mile later David's boot failed. I quickly boiled some water and had dinner so that David could take the stove back with him, then I skied up to a meadowed area near 4100 feet to make camp. A very nice spot out of the valley breeze, with running water close by, great sunset views of Bears Breast Mountain and Summit Chief Mountain, and about 6 feet of snowpack. The surface snow started refreezing by 7 PM but it did not seem that the freeze would be especially deep at this elevation.
David hit the trail at 6 AM the next morning and found me lounging in camp with no stove getting hungry at 8:30. I had a quick breakfast and then we started skiing toward Williams Lake under the brilliant blue sky. The snow was already softening so the fishscales generally gripped well. We took a ramp to the east of Williams Lake up to Chain Lakes. This ramp was not a place to hang out, with glide cracked snowpack and big cornices hanging above on the west face of Bears Breast Mountain.
From Chain Lakes we skied to the divide overlooking La Bohn Lakes, then added skins for the climb up onto Mt. Hinman. This northwest facing snow was very firm and my skinny skins couldn't do the job, so I had to boot for a little while. Above 6000 feet the snowpack was solidly frozen underneath and starting to soften nicely where getting sun. On the long summit ridge of Mt. Hinman there were a few areas of newer snow, but mostly the snow was nicely consolidated. We noticed some up ski tracks here but no evidence of returning turns - anybody here own those tracks?
We reached the summit at about 1:30 and hung out for an hour enjoying the amazing views and pleasant temperatures. We both installed cables on our 3-pin bindings before starting down. Overall this route has a lot of skiing but not a lot of turns, but we got some stretches of nice corn turns going back down to the La Bohn Lakes divide.
After that we pretty much used our vertical to glide back to Williams Lake. The snow had warmed to either mush or breakable crust over mush, and we wanted to spend as little time as possible below the snowpack hanging up on Bears Breast Mountain. Back at my camp we snacked and shared a beer (Youngs Double Chocolate Stout - highly recommended!), then headed out. We skied more of the way out than we had on the way in, doing a couple of short carries to connect, then just hiked when the stretches of snow weren't worth the skis on/off hassle.
The Middle Fork Snoqualmie road is supposed to become permanently gated at Dingford Creek this fall, which will add something like 5-6 miles to the trailhead, so this trip will soon become a very long one indeed (though I'm sure David will still be able to do it as a day trip!). On the way out it took us 60 minutes to drive the first 12 miles (to Taylor River), and then 30 minutes to drive the final 12 miles (to North Bend). The road was actually in reasonable shape between Taylor River and Dingford Creek, but beyond has clearly been left to weather naturally and I don't think I'd try it in a normal clearance car.
Charles |
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