Our group of nine stalwart Ramblers gathered at the pullout south of Rocky Creek at 9am and left shortly after. The weather was cool and partly cloudy with darker clouds to the west. We quickly found the trail where it intersects Rocky Creek (now marked with ribbon) and climbed the steep trail to the ridge. On the ridge in the trees there were a couple of cm of new snow and a group of 5 had left just before us so we simply followed their footsteps.

We quickly made it up to the trail through the scree below the steeper sections and the snow remained soft and not too much of an issue, but at the scrambly rock about half way up the ramp, ice had formed on the rock (like verglass). It was about this time that the snow started to fall in earnest and the wind was getting stronger. We tried a couple of routes through this section, but everywhere where the use of hands was necessary seemed too slippery for secure foot placements. We discussed options and decided to retreat. On the way down the scree we were in a proper blizzard, and visibility dropped to near zero.

We stopped for lunch at treeline, then headed down. At the point where the Kane route intersects the treed ascent ridge we found a marked trail quite close to the west side of the ridge. We realized (confirmed by a GPS) that this was not the trail we had come up, but was paralleling the up trail so we followed it. After about 20 minutes, this trail diverged father to the skiers left and seemed to follow a ramp heading down towards the highway. We followed this trail down the ramp feature but it became steep and slabby so we moved out farther to the left to find easier ground through the trees and soon emerged on the power line right of way along the highway. We were back at the cars about 14:30. The photos below show the snowy conditions.

Sun and snow

Group moving on ramp system

Lunch in the snow

Group at Treeline

Thanks to a really great group Christine,Jim,Susan,Jeannette,Audrey,Peter,Krzysztof,Brian, for fully participating in this adventure and thank you Audrey for the photos - c/s Clifton.