The Ark Mtn Attempt

The Ark Mountain (5,339ft)

The highpoint for my bike

Attempt to 4,600ft

Eric Gilbertson, January 20, 2018

I left Seattle on a rainy/snowy Sunday morning and drove up to the middle fork snoqualmie trailhead. The start of the trail up the Ark is an old logging road, so I mountain biked as far as possible before the snow got too deep. I then ditched the bike and proceeded on snowshoes.

The snow got really deep (wish I’d brought skis instead!) and I soon left the road grade and started bushwhacking. I gained the south ridge at a rock outcrop, but got cliffed out so had to retreat and gain it at a higher point. I followed the ridge up to about 4,600ft, but then encountered a knife-edge ridge with cliffs on both sides, and a fresh cornice on top.

It looked to risky for me to be attempting solo, so I turned around and hiked/biked back to the car.

Snowy bushwhacking

© 2018, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.

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