Started 10:45, arrived 20 ft short of summit @ 3:15 (did not summit due to severe ice), return to trailhead 6:30pm. Total time 7hr/45min. Weather ideal, sunny, temp around 35. Trailhead is approx 1.2 mi beyond Mt. Si trailhead by sign that says ""School bus turnaround"". At this spot is a parking area on left. Trail is up the gated road. Total distance is 7 mi one way, elevation gain 4000 ft. Hike closed road 5 ½ -6 mi, then at gap overlooking small lake and valley turn right, off the road onto ""trail"" up the ridge. Ridge is 1- 1 ½ mi long. First 1 mi approximately is quite flat, then it climbs at 20% angle on up to ""gap"". Snowshoes would be beneficial around 3500 ft, at places there's 12"" of snow. There is a foot trail all the way up. We used snowshoes from 3500 ft to just below the summit. Tom used his sherpa snowshoes w/2"" mountaineering crampon to the summit, but had great difficulty getting up last 100 ft. I took my MSR Denali snowshoes off 100 ft below summit, made it up one steep piece, but then it was too icy to continue. The last 100 ft or so is extremely steep, up about 55% slope, 3"" fresh snow over ice. Ice dome at top needs crampons, 4point may be OK, 12 point ideal.

It's Tuesday and my legs are still sore. This is the longest day hike I care to do(14miles). I started at 10:45. Seeing my friend's car at the trail head I tried to catch up with him. So I hauled butt as fast as I could. There was a lot of talk of snow in the mountians this weekend. The snow did'nt even start untill 3500'(A disapointment). I finaly caught up to my friend about 1/2 mile after the Mt Si turn off. I met his friends, we chatted, they headed down and I continued on. From this point I was the only one out there. I needed to put the snow shoes on. Once I got to the ridge and the trees I stashed the snow shoes and continued on. I made it to the top at 2pm. Once I was at the top I dreded the long hike down. The view was nice. I tried to sled down but that did'nt work to well. I arived at my car at 4:30.

Started at the school bus turnaround at 9am. It was a beautiful day with 50 mile visibility. Road/Trail is in excellent condition. The trail to the summit from the main road/trail is extremely overgrown and difficult to find and follow. The summit was spectacular. I enjoyed gazing down at all the little people on Mt. Si nearly 700 feet below! It seems comical that I met not a single other human on the entire trail and had the summit to myself for the better portion of an hour! The trip was approx. 14 miles and I returned to the truck at 14:45, for a round trip elapsed time of 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Wow. Solitude. As I drove by the full Mt Si parking lot people were parking on the street! I drove one more mile to the deserted Mt Tenerife parking lot. On this beautiful sunny day I was the ONLY one on the trail! Snow started about 1/4 mile before the Mt Si trail. It was soft and made the going slow. I did not have snow shoes and the going was realy tough after the shack. I did make it all the way to the top without snowshoes but I fell in the snow up to my waist many times. On the way down I stopped and had a nice conversation with the owner of the shack. I just could'nt believe all of the people on the Mt Si highway. I am glad they don't know about Tenerife.

This is always a good conditioning hike, 4000'/15mi. There is a bathtub at the trailhead. No snow until above the two steep switchbacks. A lot less snow than last year. Easy hike along the ridge. An ice axe comes in handy for the final 100' climb to the summit, but a shame to carry it all day for 5 minutes of use. Didn't use my snowshoes until I got off the ridge back on the old road at the pass. Mush-city on the way down. A 1,000mg aspirin descent down the steep old road-trail. 10 hrs RT which included 1hr on summit. 9 people reached summit this glorious sunny day.