Sentinel Peak & Hailstone Butte loop Off-Trail Hike on 22-Oct-2009

A great day to bag a couple of peaks! It was cool and at times quite windy but the bright sunshine most of the day made up for that.
We set off at 9:00 along the well service road towards Sentinel Pass and Peak. Once the trail leaves the road after about 4 km we did have to contend with 20 to 30 cm of snow that was sometimes quite crusty. The lightweights had a much easier time of it than the rest of us.

South ridge (our ascent/descent route) of Sentinel Peak

At the point just past the above photo we decided not to go to Sentinel Pass, but rather to climb the south ridge because it was nicely blown free of snow. It clouded over for a bit as we climbed and the wind was quite fierce, but the sun came out and we found comfortable shelter from the wind on the lee side. We were at the top a little before noon.

Rosanne, Philip, Manfred, Sheila, Adrian, Carl and Alda in the lee of Sentinel Peak

Downtown from Sentinel Peak

Adrian carried not only a GPS but also a laptop computer and monitored our progress on both. He could show us what the mountains looked like from a satellite (or a bird).

Adrian using GPS and Google Earth to show where we are

We split up for the trip to Iron Creek Pass, some taking the outbound trail, some traversing the west side intervening ridge on goat trails, and one staying right on top of the ridge.

Philip on the traverse of the ridge between Sentinel and Hailstone

We all arrived at Iron Creek Pass within minutes of each other and then started the climb to Hailstone Butte. Adrian has an eagle eye and spotted numerous flocks of sheep on the hills and valleys to the east. His maximum zoom camera documents some.

Flock of bighorns at a distance

Climbing the road that services the lookout involved a fair amount of breaking trail, both on the road and occasionally shortcutting the long switchbacks. At the top we were just under a long cornice that had already fallen off in most places.

Early season cornice falls off Hailstone Butte

The final slog to Hailstone Butte

We were at the top a little before 3:00, and enjoyed a second lunch/snack.

Manfred, Philip, Sheila, Alda, Rosanne, Carl and Adrian at Hailstone Butte lookout

We elected to follow Daffern's description for the descent and followed the ridge all the way to the south end before descending through open forest veering slightly right and ended up exactly at the cars. Previous Rambler trips seem to have generally used a drainage on the west side.

Manfred descending the south ridge of hailstone Butte

We were back at the cars at 5:00, the end of an excellent day in the mountains.
Thanks to Manfred and Alda for doing much of the trail breaking when we needed it, and to Sheila, Rosanne, Philip and Adrian for joining me, Carl, (C/S).

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