Pauls Mountaineering Trips: Hurricane Hill - Olympic Natl Park

Today, joined by nine other Kitsap Climbers, we snowshoed up to the summit of Hurricane Hill (5757 ft) in Olympic National Park (ONP).

Although we originally intended to climb Steeple Rock, it was so heavily corniced that, for safety sake, we reverted to plan "B" and climbed Hurricane Hill.

If you couldn't join us then you will have to trust me when I describe this as among the most beautiful, sunny days I have expierenced on the Hill.

To add to our enjoyment and our great surprise, as the overwhelming majority of our group donned snowshoes and began this trek, two of our crew jumped out ahead of the pack wearing skis and began performing ski-like acrobatics :-). I hear that Cirque du Soleil is accepting applications - our skiers would appear to be prime candidates.

The pictures below start with a view of the corniced ridge that our route paralled as it meandered up toward the steep, wide slope of Hurricane. Following this are pictures taken as we approached the summit. We were gifted with views of snow-encrusted, sculpture-like trees near the summit and another beautiful ridge. From the summit there were views of Mt Angeles, Unicorn Peak, Mt Olympus, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Shown below are some of my favorite pictures taken during the trek.

Note: Click picture for LARGER view.

Corniced Ridge (center)