HH Daily Double (Part 2) - Gore Mt. 4/30/06

[Mavs00]

After the PILLSBURY MT. hike, we said goodbye to Alan and Rik and took a nice leisurely, scenic drive up past Indian Lake, stopping at the Stewarts there for some fuel , and on over towards the Gore Mountain ski area. We arrived at the ski area at about 2:30 PM. We opted not to take the trail up and to take advantage of the ski area, because we were short on time and still faced a LONG 4 hour drive after the hike. This way would be the quickest.

We got out at the lodge and the dogs looked at us lke "WHAT, another mountain, TODAY??????". You betcha. On Randomscooter's advice, we walked behind the utility buildings on the left and found an access road that leads up the mountain. Nice even grade, but within 5-8 minutes or so, there is a fork in the road. Left takes you up the back side (southern) to the base of some really STEEP "double diamond" ski runs. Right meanders up past the Saddle Lodge (at 3000') and winds around to the top of the peak. This road will take you ALL the way to the summit.

ADVICE: if you hike the Ski center side. Unless the snow is FULLY OFF the mountain or you pack crampons, I would strongly suggest going right. Barebooting packed snow covered "diamond" level slopes is not only hard work, but kind stressful too .

We walked uneventfully to the Saddle Lodge and once there Nick decided to make this otherwise boring walk a little more exciting by heading the a 200-250 foot "single diamond" Fairview Run as a shortcut. Not his smartest move. The snow was still deep, bulletproof tough (bordering on ice in spots), and SLOW going. With nary a crampon in sight, we slowly made our way up the icefield, by kick-stepping 1/2-1 inch toeholds all the way up. Funny enough, the dogs had no problems and I found myself secretly wishing Nick would slip, it would have been fun watching him slide all the way to the bottom of this hard fought section of ski slope . He didn't and after about a 30 minute stress filled climb (exhilarating for some), we had reached the top of this section and were moving on. I should note, Ashley was NOT AMUSED with the shortcut (see below)



We made the rest of the hike up the road uneventfully, but there was lots of snow left over and it was slow in spots. Soon we were at the top and with one look at the firetower and I could practically feel my cells mutating so we walked over by the "warming hut" and had a snack there. Given the slow portions, it had taken almost 2 hours to reach the top.

Heading down, we were smart and followed the road aal the way to the Saddle Lodge, which basically goes along the moderately sloped "blue square" Cloud run. Once at the lodge we choose to take the direct route down (not the road we came up) and follow the Gondola course straight down the "blue square" Wild Air run to the base lodge. We were down from the top (over 2100' feet desent) in almost exactly 50 minutes. A pretty direct route for sure.

Round trip we figured this hike was about 5.5 miles and climbed close to 2100 feet. It took right about 3 hours. Sure, it wasn't the most exciting hike up a mountain and it won't make anyone's top-10 list of favorites, but there was some pretty darn good views all the way up and around the top. Remember, its all wide open ski slopes, so next to slides it a very view friendly way to get up a peak.

Total for the day: ~9 miles, ~3700 climbing, 6 hours hiking and 6 hours in the car driving, but in the end, it was 2 more peaks under our belt.

Stand by for pictures.

[Mavs00]

-PICTURES- are up.

[percious]

Nice pics Mavs. I see your son has now entered the "long hair" phase of life...

-percious

[Mavs00]

Originally Posted by percious

Nice pics Mavs. I see your son has now entered the "long hair" phase of life...

-percious

Tell me about it, long and unruly........... He's a free-spirit for sure. I think I let him hike with Rik too much .

Don't let the looks fool you, he's a good kid. He's fancies himself a guitar rocker and you know what, he ain't half bad. Wide range, and pretty much spot on with his J. Page and Slash riffs. Even throws in some Floyd and good Peal Jam / Nirvona too

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Mavs00

Tell me about it, long and unruly........... He's a free-spirit for sure. I think I let him hike with Rik too much .

Well given the choice between my hair and Alan's I'm sure Nick found it to be a pretty easy choice. Just wait til the tattoos start. I was giving Nick some suggestions while we were waiting for the old guys to catch up.