Snaggle Tree Peak by Snowmobile

Snaggle Tree Peak (4,898ft)

Heading towards Snaggle Tree Peak

Dec 6, 2020

Eric and Damon

I needed a bit more practice with my snowmobile before bigger trips so headed to Stampede Pass with Damon on Sunday. We were the only ones in the Crystal Springs sno park in the morning. We snowmobiled over gravel to thin and icy snow, which got a bit more powdery up at Stampede Pass. We first snowmobiled to the Stampede Pass lookout site, then followed roads southwest to just below Snaggle Tree Peak.

Damon was brave and skilled enough to snowmobile directly up the steep slopes to the summit, but I left my sled at the end of the road and postholed up to the top. It’s on the edge of logged and unlogged forest, and I guess some disfigured trees on the summit give this peak its name.

Overlooking Keechelus Lake

I postholed back to the sled and we then rode around to Radioactive Peak. We continued farther east and tried to get up Crossover Butte, but the road soon filled in and would require steep side hilling, which is pretty difficult on a snowmobile. So we turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

Damon headed home and I headed back up to the pass to get a few more hours in. Once a new snowmobile has been operated for 10 hours it needs serviced since the belts and chains will stretch, similar to how new bike cables and chain will stretch. I wanted to hit this threshold and get the servicing in well ahead of bigger planned mountaineering trips this winter.

I rode trails til sunset, then got back and drove home. In total I rode 58 miles and verified that in those conditions with lots of ups and downs the sled gets 10 miles per gallon. Since it has a 10-gallon tank, this means it has about a 100-mile range, which should be totally sufficient for any approaches to peaks in the winter in washington.