Mt. Guyot in Black and White

Like many peaks, this was a second try.

A few weeks prior to this we attempted Mt. Guyot. An 8 a.m. start was going to be a good start on a cold day. We hiked down the plowed road. I was impressed with the number of people still living in the houses along the gated-off road.

And, if you have hiked this peak, you might be asking... what houses?

Well, if you miss the left turn onto Little French Trail, you will eventually walk past several homes. Some closed for winter with snow drifts covering vehicles and front doors. Some homes had shoveled driveways and woodstoves puffing smoke.

Where was that left turn again? Once we figured out we missed it, we walked back to what we thought should be the turn, a county road. That was totally covered with snow and didn’t even look like a route, let alone a road. Instead of looking wider on the map to see the trail... back up the road looking for options. We walked to the end of the plowed part and could see the steep and rugged looking west slope. That was a no go. We could see people on the upper ridge. How did they get up there?

The great idea was to put on the snowshoes and start up and over the lower part of the NW ridge. We began breaking trail in the deep untouched snow in the trees. Derek led the way. I wasn’t prepared for this.

Sometime later... we were going up the spine of the ridge. But isn’t the trail just below us, maybe 50 to 100 feet to the left. The old adage of not losing elevation is BS. Slowly, up the spine in fresh snow.

Another 20 minutes of struggling and we decided to drop down. Guess what, a used trail.

Well, to shorten this part of the story... by the time we made it out of the trees, to the basin, and then back into the trees, I was done for the day.

We were 3.4 miles into a 3.5 mile hike, and we were barely half way with 2,000 feet to go.

I wasn’t feeling well. The snowshoeing kicked my butt. I knew I wasn’t going to make the summit. I called it. It wasn’t my day. I thought Derek and Nicco would continue on. They decided to call it a day too. At least we hiked down the main trail and found out where it turned from the road.

Second Attempt

Another 8 a.m. start on a beautiful day was just the call. Up the road Derek and I went. And guess what, we missed the @#$%^& turn again. It was hard not to laugh about it.

We thought there would have been plenty of skiers making tracks to ski that slope on Saturday. But only one set of tracks were there. And they stopped before the basin. So once again, we broke trail, or should I say Derek did. He’s in better shape than me. I’ve been lazy this winter.

Up the slope a bit, until he found the previous trail that switchbacks through the trees up to the ridge. The route was solid under a few inches of fresh snow.

No one else had been in the basin since the latest snow a few days before.

Two hours into the hike and we were on the ridge. It was time for sunscreen. The snow was only deep for a couple hundred yards. From there it was shallow or windblown. Rocks poked through.

We didn’t go over the bump in the ridge, but followed one of the many snow lines up and to the left. Near 12,400 we had a snack break. It was absolutely beautiful. No wind. Warm sun. (Don’t talk about the no hitter...)

We moved up about 100 feet and took off the snowshoes and hiked up the rocky and snowy slope toward the summit ridge.

We hit 13,000 feet and the wind began. Not too bad at first. But once on the summit ridge, we added layers and the big gloves. We walked the ridge, staying close to the rocks on the left. That snow on the right was inviting, but we weren’t sure what was underneath it, if anything.

We only spent a few minutes on the summit. That wind.

It was a fairly quick decent back to 13,500 and the warm sun and windless slope. Snacks again.

Nearly back to the trees and we saw our first person of the hike. She had skinned up the slope for the first ski of the weekend. By the time we were back to the main trail at the beginning of the open basin, she was coming down.

The walk out was smooth and warm. We parted ways shortly before the TH as Derek had plans to summit Mineral Hill, a ranked 10er.

Paw Prints: Once we hit the ridge, there was a coyote track, thought they were big for a fox. The tracks went up and over the summit, following the previous packed trail. Always nice to see animals tracks up high. I’ve seen coyotes at elevation, but not this high in winter.