Ely Hill & Blackhawk Peak 03/12/2005

My primary motivation for this trip was to bag Ely Hill for its 1,000' prominence status. I had hope to add on Blackhawk and Douglas afterward, but a few circumstances made me change my mind later. Heading up Ely's North Slopes, the ongoing snowfall made it important to stay away from evergreens as much as possible to avoid getting dumped on. There was some slightly tricky bushwhacking up to the summit. On the right, Blackhawk peaks up above the ridge. The descent to the Blackhawk saddle was really steep, at least where I went; it was whiteout and I missed the saddle. A barking dog clued me to check my GPS. I headed back south and regained about 200' to reach the intended saddle. The snow wasn't too hard to deal with once on the ridge as trees and deadfall were more avoidable. It was still slow going, and the snowfall was intensifying.
	I Finally made it over to Blackhawk's summit after staying on the south side of the ridge to avoid being too noticable. It was hard to get much of a view of anything, in part because of trees, but also due to the falling snow. I was a little discouraged by presence of a huge house right on the saddle between Blackhawk and Douglas Mountain, which was definitely occupied judging by the steam coming from the roof. The return seemed to take more time than I expected. It was a good day to be out for peaks like these in any event.