7.7 Mi. 2660' Red Mountain via Pacific Crest Trail and Commonwealth Basin Trail(edit)

This was an attempt to get to Kendall Katwalk, but the snow made it super-slow going, and we tan out of time (also lost the trail in the deep snow). As you can see... it was snow-packed from the parking lot. Couldn't even get in (with our 4x4 Range Rover. A few cars parked outside, so we joined them, and made our way up. The avalanche center didn't call for any warnings, but you could sure tell that things were ominous about half way up. Had our gators and microspikes on from the get-go, but it was still super hard to find grip. First time i've slid down an emabankment (~50 feet), and it sure made us think twice about going on the catwalk. Amazing day in the sunshine, and only around 4 other hikers all day (they didn't have spikes, so the turned around much earlier). Definitely need to go back in a month to do the rest of this. Beautiful vistas in the snow, though... so it was still great!

01/21/2018 - Casey, Curt and Reid skinned up on the pct to just under Kendall Peak. Skied down thru the trees. Skinned out commonwealth creek. See Casey’s gps track for more details. Next time skin up commonwealth creek if going to where we were last time. Exiting commonwealth creek you should be able to ski all the way to car without skins on. Was snowing a pretty healthy amount, steadily, the whole time. Not too cold. Snow was dense coming down, only took one lap. Up at the top under Kendall Peak the wind had strong gusts whipping down at us, so the bowl just above the trees could’ve been loaded with a wind slab.

Skied off ridge through the trees to commonwealth basin