Beautiful spring conditions with enough snow for skiing, snowshoeing, snowmen, or building snow forts.

For overnight reservations, go to: https://skimtta.org/brunis-snow-bowl-hut/

For photos and more info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MountTahomaTrails

Snopark Permits are required through April 30th at: https://epermits.parks.wa.gov/Store/SNO/SnoChoice.aspx

Discover Passes are required May - Nov.

2 gorgeous spring-like mornings. 55 degrees at 9 am!  2' of snow around the hut with super clear views of Rainier, Adams, St Helens, and Hood in OR. 

Have a snopark permit printed or filled in and visible in your windshield ($25 Daily or $50 Seasonal Non-Motorized if staying overnight). It can be icy so have traction for your vehicles and on your feet. Walk single-file on sides of trail. 

$15 overnight bunks available online in advance at: https://skimtta.org/brunis-snow-bowl-hut/

Read through website to know what to expect and do while there. For updated conditions, check out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MountTahomaTrails

DANGEROUSLY ICY ROAD. I will add a better review tomorrow, but wanted to share this as a PSA. I slid into a ditch in my SUV despite All Wheel Drive, Rear Snow Chains, and driving 3 mph. We were lucky to be rescued by kind locals. At least four other cars ended up in the ditch while we were there.

4 chains are absolutely necessary. You can rent them near the trail road at Whittaker Mountaineering.

But hey, the trail was beautiful and Frank enjoyed it. 

Road 1 was very slick all the way to the trailhead. Chains or traction devices required. They are rentable in Ashford at Whittaker's or the gas station while supplies last. Try them on to make sure they fit and put on early BEFORE you need them. The trail was icy just off the Highway turnoff.  Have the 10 Essentials as well as emergency gear and rations in your vehicle. You must have a printed and completed snopark permit to park in the snopark.

Have skis or snowshoes (can also be rented at Whittakers from 8 -5 pm) . If walking, stay single-file on far edges to preserve center for safe skiing. 

Stayed at Snow Bowl last night (Sunday-Monday) and tons of nice fluffy powder the whole way. Everyone please put your chains/cables/socks on regardless if you think you need them and park in the lower lot. Sunday we had a scary close call with a car sliding towards us down the road (we were on foot) and saw a few stuck vehicles, then today we saw 4 more stuck and one with chains take a scary slide, all between upper and lower. 

The video at the bottom is from last year of totally different conditions but shows a lot of the trail. This video shows a tour of Snow Bowl and the viewpoint: https://youtu.be/ATECnXYNEP0

Road/Parking: The pit toilet at the lower lot was stocked and relatively clean. There is snow the entire way, as soon as you leave the highway and turn onto Rd 1, so right when you make the turn is a great place to chain up. We made the mistake on the way in of not doing it right away, had a bunch of sliding on the first little downhill near the beginning and did it right at the bottom. Much much better but we still had a little trouble in a couple narrow sections where we had to pass other cars going the other way and the non-chain wheels wanted to slip into the ditch. We lived 15 years in one of the snowiest cities in the country, so we know how to drive in snow but this was very slick. We have AWD but just all-season tires. 

We walked between the lower and upper lot and on Sunday saw a couple stuck vehicles, then a couple coming down doing a lot of sliding. One stopped to put on chains, and we were walking around it when another car came sliding down behind it and when it tried to get out of the way it started sliding again, but this time I was downhill of it between it and the drop off. Very scary, but ended ok. One of the people got out of the upper car and fell immediately, then a couple more times before getting back in. On Monday we came across a roadblock of 4 vehicles, all stuck. Some with and some without chains. One had a winch and all terrain tires, but was still struggling. After we passed them and had a little distance, the most downhill one (with chains) broke loose and started sliding downhill until it caught a snowbank. 

You can find status updates here: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMTTAInformation/ 

Trail: We only did Snow Bowl, but most of the trail is shared between High Hut and the Yurt, so I tagged them too. We were able to put snowshoes on right at the lower lot. There was fresh plowing today so there wasn't as much snow, but we were slipping all over when we tried it without them on the way down. Spikes would have been nice but we left them in the car so we put the snowshoes back on. 

We broke trail all the way down today and there is a solid foot or two of fluff in most places. We could barely even see our tracks from the day before. Not much for views, but a nice trail with a steady incline/decline, not real steep, but a steady grin on the way up. The snow loaded trees made the place look like a wonderland but they were dropping a lot of snow bombs. The trail is really well marked with lots of signs with milage info. 

On the final approach to Snow Bowl the trees open up and were were getting just pelted with wind/snow on the way up. Burr! It was cold but pretty pleasant up to that last bit and it made us super grateful to reach the warm hut. 

This fan page often has trip reports from fans and ski patrol and notes about the hut: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MountTahomaTrails & https://www.facebook.com/groups/280464006551221

Stats:

Up - 4.3 miles, 2000 ft elevation gain, 75 ft loss, 2.5 hours moving, 3 hours total. 

Down - 4.3 miles, 75 ft elevation gain, 2000 ft loss, 2 hour moving, 2.25 hours total. 

Hut: Everything is provided to collet, melt, and filter snow for water. Sometimes there is a pump that uses rain water but it wasn't working this week. The place is fully stocked with dishes, pot, pans, tea kettles, utensils, cleaning supplies, first aid etc. Mugs are in a drawer. The only think we didn't find was a large colander for draining pasta but we might have missed it inside something else. The kitchen is a little tight when multiple people are cooking so you might want to bring something relatively quick/simple. 

It is all self service, clean up after yourself, pack out everything you pack in, and leave it cleaner than you found it for the next person. The hut even has its own large collection of games and basic art supplied. There is limited solar power that powers the lights and backup lanterns. The heat and stove are propane, a large tank that needs to last the winter. There are flip flops to wear inside and a variety of rubber boots to wear to the outhouse (which was well stocked, including a motion light, good tp and hand sanitizer. There are lots of hooks for hanging/drying things and a pulley system for a hanging rack on the stairs. We were impressed by how quickly things dried here. 

Ski patrol is an awesome group of volunteers who have their own quarters downstairs and may stop by to say hi or stay the night. 

The bunk area is upstairs, with a few bunk beds and a bunch of comfy floor mats. They had a few pillows up here and a foldable baby play pen/crib. 14 doesn't leave much floor space so you might have to get creative with the mat layout. I highly recommend ear plugs and and eye mask. 

The view from the hut is incredible on a good day, but the gazebo, about 500 ft down the trail is really the star. It is perched on a peninsula with cliffs falling away on 3 sides for an amazing view, which can include Adams and Mount Saint Helens, as well as Rainier. The garden up there is really a special place with all kinds of fun adornment. 

Hut info and video with how everything works: https://skimtta.org/information-page-brunis-snow-bowl/