A friend and I saw the 100% chance of rain forecasted in the North Cascades today, but decided to just go for it in the hopes of seeing the last of the larches. And we were rewarded, by many snow-covered larches at the pass, and by pride of perserverence. By views, not so much. Read on.
We arrived at the trailhead at 9:30 on a Sunday with just a few other cars in the lot. There was a light rain when we got on the trail, and by 4,000 feet it had turned to snow that was sticking to the ground. We got out of the forest and into the valley, which was completely blanketed in 2-3 inches of snow with more coming down. At this point, we ran into two other groups who had opted to turn around at this section of the trail. We were feeling good with our gear, traction, energy, and dryness/warmth, and so decided to keep going as long as we felt able to safely find and follow the trail in the snow. Shortly after entering the valley, we re-entered the forest, and ran into another group who had successfully made it to the top. They were reassuring about trail-finding on the talus slope and we knew we'd also have their boot tracks to follow, which gave us the confidence to push on.
From here, with fairly low visibility and everything blanketed in slow, I zoned out for a while during endless switchbacks, first in the forest and then on the open slope. The snow was fresh and powdery so my friend and I felt like we had decent traction with just boots and poles, and in some ways walking on snow felt easier than walking on a rocky slope.
We got to the top and enjoyed some beautiful, snow-covered larches, and celebrated a very snowy ascent! The snow at the top was around 4-6 inches and still coming down quickly. There was zero visibility beyond the pass, although we could see a bit back the way we had come. I'd love to do this hike again someday and enjoy the views! We quickly became too cold, so after 20 minutes we headed back down. I wore my microspikes for a while but they kept jambing up with the fresh snow, so I eventually took them off.
It took us 2:40 to get from the trailhead to the summit, then 2 hours to come back down.
Poles and waterproof layers (top and bottom) were essential to safely do this hike today. I think microspikes will become essential too in the coming days when the snow hardens up/packs down. In the last mile especially, the trail is very steep and narrow and it is easy to slip. Warm layers were also key, we stayed warm going up, but once I layered back up at the top I kept all those layers on for the full descent. A full change of dry clothes at the car was also very welcome at the end of the hike.
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