Medicine Bow Peak Snow Climb

“Putting this out there for my crazy friends that own ice axes and crampons… anybody want to join me on Sunday for a snow climb of Medicine Bow Peak?”

All good ideas start with a solid Facebook post to crazy friends, right?

I normally climb Medicine Bow Peak at least once a year, and have been doing so since 1992. Therefore, I do not blog my hikes as for the most part they are quite similar. I did a summary post a while back about climbing this favorite mountain of mine. However, with this being my first attempt at climbing the mountain with snow conditions, I figure it deserved a write up!

Climbing Medicine Bow Peak can be dangerous anytime of the year, but especially under snow conditions. Do NOT attempt this without adequate skills with ice axe, self arrest, and footing techniques, including crampon techniques. There is significant risks with falls with steep slopes and avalanches. I am not a professional guide, and this is merely a write up of my climb, not a how to manual or encouragement for anybody reading to attempt the same.

My friend Marie took the Facebook bait, and we arrived at our parking spot at 6am. With the Sugarloaf Road still snowed in, we opted for the hairpin corner on WY Highway 130 just down from the Libby Flats observation areas. This is a popular parking spot for backcountry skiers and fellow climbers like ourselves. As we were readying our packs, I realized I made a pretty bad mistake – I forgot my sunglasses. This really stressed me out as I recalled one of our party members for Mount Saint Helens did not wear his glacier glasses and suffered with a bout of snow blindness. Marie searched her car for a spare pair with no luck. Thankfully with a fairly short day early in the morning, I made it through okay. Eek… newbie mistake!

We took off cross country on pretty solid snow. We had brought our snowshoes, but postholing was so minimal they stayed strapped on our packs for the whole day. Quick work was made of the walk, and we stopped to take off layers and take a nature break as we debated our route up. I realized I could see the Lakes Trail in front of us looking pretty dry, and Marie and I settled on following that up and around to the summit trail, or “summer trail” as we would call it on this day to reach snow that was less steep than the couloir in front of us.

The bottom of the summer trail was dry, but luckily not awful to hike up with mountaineering boots (I’ve reached the point normal hiking boots hurt my feet way more than mountaineering boots do). We reached our first snow field and grabbed our ice axes to begin up, but without first debating the tracks we found. Marmot? Ground squirrel?

Though steep, we managed without crampons, though reflecting back I think I would choose to put them on if repeating under the same conditions. I went first kicking in steps until I met the tracks of a skier in front of us who broke trail with great steps. Marie and I finally realized we should put on our helmets about halfway up, so we stopped to do that. There was not rockfall danger, more of just the steepness of the slope and distance one could slide if they fell and couldn’t self arrest quickly enough. (I’m big on brain protection, so honestly I do not mind wearing a helmet in a lot of situations that others would not!)

After reaching the top, we had a short traverse on the dry trail before the final snow climb up to the summit ridge. This had a steep nearly vertical ten foot section at the top to gain the ridge, which was a fun scramble in the snow. After reaching the ridge, I was a bit surprise to realize how close the summit was, and we were there before we knew it!

Winds were calm and the sun was shining so we took summit photos (with Marie winning the best pose contest) and had a snack before heading down.

We were able to glissade the second snow field (the first one on the way up) to a point lower than we had begun the climb up, which was a ripping good time! The glissade route had a safe run out, so I really sent it at speed.

From there on out, it was just a hike out on the dry trails and snow back to the car. Luckily the snow was still holding fairly well with only occasional, random postholing. Almost exactly four hours later we arrived back at the car!

Medicine Bow Peak in snow conditions – check!

This whole climb really excited me as it was something I had wanted to do ever since getting into mountaineering. I feel like it was a good intro into couloir climbing without a huge commitment as the overall trip was four miles and you are never too remote into the backcountry. And hello, it is my favorite mountain!