Scott, Sierra and I got out for a great snow swim up Bear Peak today from the Cragmoor TH. The trail started off nice and packed to the Mesa Trail, but from there to the Fern Canyon, there was no track, then a ski track for a very short ways up Fern.
Not sure what the official storm total for Boulder was, maybe ~18 inches, but there was certainly more on Bear Peak. When trailbreaking, the snow was never less then knee deep, was waist deep in places where it was steepest and armpit deep at the base of the Slab where all the spindrift collects.
The steep trudge up Fern was a challenge as it was like swimming in spots and you never really knew exactly what you were stepping on. Things became a little easier above the saddle, as Scott's trail from the previous day revealed itself somewhat, but it was still a slog. Made the true summit after 1:54, hung out on top for a while then went down in an hour and a few minutes taking it pretty easy. Never went too hard, although just breaking trail the entire way was a challenge in and of itself.
Sierra had a blast as always, a big smile on her face the entire time and by the end had a nice collection of snowballs firmly embedded to her chest.
We wore Kahtoola crampons, but all they did was ball up, then were a nuisance on the descent, so we took them off. A warm day or two, plus a few more passes on the trail, it should set up pretty nice.
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