Photos from this trip can be found here.
Hibox Mountain didn’t make my climbing list until I took notice of it on the way to Alta Mountain a couple of months back. In merely two months, the taller peaks in the Snoqualmie area are now capped with snow. This was one of our “late start” hikes and I kept my fingers crossed for getting back before it got dark.
It wasn’t long after getting on the boot-beaten before the elevation starting to pick up aggressively. A couple of tight sections felt as though I was climbing straight up a wall. From the trail it didn’t look like there was much snow on the top and I was happy not to have to tread in the snow or break trail for the most part. Things started to look differently past the second rock band, and there was more snow than anticipated in the last 1,000 feet. Microspikes helped a great deal with gaining traction in spots with shallow snow, but I started postholing just before reaching the last 50-foot scramble in about two feet of snow. Assuming that there hasn’t been any more snowfall since we were there, snowshoes will not be needed.
The scramble section looked pretty sketchy covered in snow and sheer icy, with two dogs I was not about to risk the fall and become a statistic. We turned around and got back down to the main trail just after sunset and spent half hour in the dark before getting back to the car.