Photos from this trip can be found here.
After arriving at the Lennox Mountain trailhead at 9 AM I had a sudden change of heart. The cloudy and drizzling conditions were not enticing enough to get me up the mountain with possibly no views on top. Without other nearby backup options, pup and I headed farther east out to Leavenworth.
I recently read about Grindstone Mountain in a few trip reports and had also heard about it from a couple of folks who climbed it last year. I remember taking photos of the mountain from Bootjack Mountain and Solomon Mountain and saw how spectacular it looked. Hard to find a trip report in wintry conditions or shots taken from near the pass. I relied on the route to the gap photo by EastKing from his 2010 trip report for the right place to descend to the other side.
Not much to see beyond the pass and the clouds stuck around the whole time. We had an interesting time looking for the true summit with the clouds constantly moved in and out. Summit was gusty with the expected whiteout, but not too terribly cold. I was a little surprised to find the summit register in the snow, thinking that it would have been buried deep. Without views to savor, we stayed long enough to get our group photo by the summit rocks and sign the register before heading down.
A long day for all of us. Pups were exhausted when we got back to the car after dark.
Access: Chatter Creek Trailhead
Gear: snowshoes