One of the best views I've seen, Bennett Mountain is a gem.
- Summit: 7465' (~2500' gain, ~ 10 miles round trip)
- December 17, 2006
- Team: Tom, Tom, Dan, Zach, and me
- Time: 1 hour drive from home, then 6 hours car to car
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Since the weather has been so weird (cold when dry, warm when wet) and skiing hasn't looked that great, we were looking for something to do. Dan said Bennett Mountain was on his list- and that sounded great to me. Did I mention is was cold? Thankfully, there was not a breath of wind and we got to start uphill immediately, because it was about 5 degrees when we left the car. After we negotiated the private land labyrinth, we ended up on this ridge walking toward the road shown on the map. That's the summit near the left side of the photo. |
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| Once we were on the road, we found that a snowcat had left it well packed. Dan and Zach are waiting for some sun, because it was still quite cold. That's our ridge in the sun on the right. |  |
| We were able to walk all the way to the summit without snowshoes. Here Tom checks out the awesome views. |  |
| The road did some long, long switchbacks through some old-growth trees. Then the top was open, giving us incredible views. Here Tom walks the last few feet with the Trinitys in the background. |  |
| Dan, even closer to the top (do the buildings give it away?), with the Soldiers in the background. |  |
| We made the top in about 3 hours, and then hung out for 45 minutes or so. In addition to the large microwave display, there is also a lookout. And what a place for a lookout- this mountain has one of the best views I've seen- probably because it is about 20 miles from the nearest peak. So don't let the road, the buildings, and the mountain's squat appearance deter you- it may be tame, but the views are wonderful. |  |
Then it was time to head down. We all put on our snowshoes and shortcut those big switchbacks. At a leisurely pace, we got back to the car in about 2 hours. |
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