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With an early rise at 5:00 a.m., I made the drive up to Grizzly Gulch / Silver Creek once again. With slightly cold morning darkness, I began the ascent up Silver Creek Trail at 6:15. I was feeling pretty good, and made good time towards the upper basin. There was no snow for a long time, and I was beginning to wonder how the avalanche I heard about could have possibly happened. Then it appeared - a 20' tall monstrosity with broken trees and dirt strewn all about (photo on right). I was grateful for my early start, as the snow was very solid. Over the course of the next mile or so, a few more snow patches were easily walked over. I could tell that I would be posting through much of it on the way down, however. After an hour and a half, I arrived in the upper basin, and saw a figure descending Redcloud. Apparently the weather had turned him and his wife back the day before, so he got a very early start to ensure a successful bid.
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Snowfields lined much of the route up to the saddle of Redcloud and 13,561'. Even in the early morning (being 7:30) post-holing was inevitable near the top of the fields. A long traverse lead me towards 13,561'. It was nice to be on a gentle slope for a change, given the terrain on Sunshine the day before. Then what I saw looked discouraging. The "skirting" of 13,561' seemed almost improbable once arriving at its base. Two large snow slopes covered the trail at very steep inclines. Unfortunately, I had not brought my ice axe, crampons, or a map, so I decided to take a look at the North side. No good - so I went back and decided to just climb it. It wasn't as bad as I thought - mostly class 3. The views from this point are incredible in all directions.
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Descending off towards the East left me with only easy terrain to acquire 13,832' (photo on left). The weather had been impeccable, and I saw no signs of any reason to hurry. The trail towards the summit had a new coating of hail / snow pellets from the previous day's storm, but post-holing was minimal. After 30 more minutes, I was nearing the end of useable trail towards the Eastern side of 13,832'. Snow banks much like the side of 13,561' prevented further horizontal progress. A short off-trail ascent led to the summit at 9:30 am. The register only had one name in it since September 2002. A quick jaunt down to the trailhead with a pinch of post-holing, and I was driving back to Mill Creek at 11:20 a.m. The trip wasn't as successful as Memorial Day weekend the previous year, owing much to the heavier snow.
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