TR: Sierra Buttes, May 21 2023

[Flamingo]

Hi All,
Here's a quick TR from my day-hike up Sierra Buttes on Saturday May 21, 2023.

Gear: We used snowshoes and trekking poles. I also carried crampons and ice axe, which I suspected could be useful for the final summit, but I didn't use them.

Conditions: Southern slopes are entirely snow-free below 7,000', but the northern slopes hold solid snow ranging in depth from 2-feet at 6,100' to 8-feet drifts at 8,200'. I'm estimating snow depth by the melted tree wells.

The lookout tower stairs are snow-free, but trail access to the base of the stairs is blocked by frozen snowfield that we found to be insurmountable with crampons and ice axe. However, we found an alternate route: from the melted switchback at ~8335', we followed remnants of use trail that contours around to the southern (snow-free) face of the butte. From there, we followed a class 2-3 gully directly up to the base of the stairs. The gully has remnants of an old trail, with engineered rock stairs in one section; otherwise, the gully was a mix of bushwacking, friction slabbing, and good 'ol clamoring over boulders.

Route: we used the same starting point as Bob Burd's report (link), parking our car at 5188' where Sierra Buttes Road intersects Butcher Ranch Road. We hiked up the switchbacks of Butcher Ranch Road, entirely snow-free, to reach the ridgeline at 6,450'. We crossed to the northern slope ridge, and immediately encountered solid snow. Here we strapped on snowshoes and followed the ridge to the summit. Our path weaved through the forest, tracing the jeep road corridors to reach the PCT. Due to the snow depth, the road corridor was difficult to ascertain through the woods, so many times our next direction was "just go up.". We eventually found the PCT trail junction, and continued directly up the ridgeline. The sun glare on snow was intense this day, so we mostly snowshoed in the shade of the forest, being cautious for the deep tree wells that looked treacherous from our vantage. Soon we reached the barren upper slopes. We took a direct line to intersect with the main trail. The top few switchbacks of the trail are melted, but -- unfortunately -- the final switchback is blocked by an insurmountable wall of ice. We tried crossing this wall using ice axe and crampons, but it was simply too steep for our tastes. However, we descended 100' vertical feet, found remnants of an old trail, and scrambled around to the snow-free southern face. This alternate path revealed a class 2/3 gully with a snow-free route to the stairs and lookout tower. See my note about about conditions.

Overall, it was a fine day in the mountains, and a most excellent snowshoe adventure.

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[wildhiker]

Great photos! Could you see Mount Lassen?

[Harlen]

Super cool Flamingo! You had some great weather to climb in. Nice, helpful trail notes, beaut pictures-- Thanks, great to hear your out there.
BTW, did you see any wildlife? Raptors?

[Flamingo]

@wildhiker -- yes we could see Lassen just barely on the horizon.

@Harlen -- so many raptors. It was a great day for birding. I'm still learning my bird silhouettes, but I picked out at least two different hawk species. The highlight was two falcons dancing with each other up a thermal. The south face of the Buttes seems to be rich with thermal pockets as it heats in the afternoon sun; it was like a bird highway as we descended from the ridge down Butcher Ranch Road.