Trip Report 02/14/2023

Peak(s):	Clover Mountain 12,955ft
Date Posted:	02/14/2023
Date Climbed:	02/07/2023
Author:	gkemps

Clover Mountain- East Ridge
Clover Mountain 02/07/23 Distance- 8.43mi Elevation gain- 3,264ft Partners- Kyle and Dave Burr We all got to the trailhead at 6:30am and all headed out up towards the Boss Lake TH up the access road and made the newbie mistake of not doing a beacon check at the car, since it was 3 degrees and none of us wanted to take our mittens off. Once we got 10mins up the road and warmed up we did the beacon check only to find Kyle must have left his beacon on since the last outing a week ago. Lesson learned! So back down to the car we go to swap batteries. Once that's taken care of, off we go at 7:19 up the access road. The road is popular with snowmobiles and snowshoers so it's packed and we're making great time up to Boss Lake. Once we hit the lake we take a snack break before crossing. Overlooking the Boss Lake reservoir During our meandering through the trees Kyle voiced that he's too tired to keep going. At this point we made the deal with him that we'll re-assess the trip once we gain the ridge, on top of relentless heckling. This seemed to be enough motivation, once we gained the East Ridge the stoke outweighed any fatigue in the group. We got visuals on most of the other fun lines in the area, like Aetna and Banana Mountain and took some notes for later. Up the ridge Summit Ski Our initial plan was to ski off of the summit to a bowl directly south, and boy did it look fun. However on the way up to the summit we did notice a fair amount of whumphing, so we played it safe and opted for a more gradual line that sat a few hundred feet east. This was our line. Tracks are hard to see but it was a blast. Once the main descent was done, we just followed some drainages back to the reservoir, crossed, then descended the winter trail back to the car. Kyle and Dave both had work that day and, typical of these pre-work outings, were late again. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Clover Mountain- East Ridge Google Map Included

Clover Mountain 02/07/23

Distance- 8.43mi

Elevation gain- 3,264ft

Partners- Kyle and Dave

We all got to the trailhead at 6:30am and all headed out up towards the Boss Lake TH up the access road and made the newbie mistake of not doing a beacon check at the car, since it was 3 degrees and none of us wanted to take our mittens off. Once we got 10mins up the road and warmed up we did the beacon check only to find Kyle must have left his beacon on since the last outing a week ago. Lesson learned! So back down to the car we go to swap batteries. Once that's taken care of, off we go at 7:19 up the access road. The road is popular with snowmobiles and snowshoers so it's packed and we're making great time up to Boss Lake. Once we hit the lake we take a snack break before crossing.

22019_06 — Overlooking the Boss Lake reservoir

During our meandering through the trees Kyle voiced that he's too tired to keep going. At this point we made the deal with him that we'll re-assess the trip once we gain the ridge, on top of relentless heckling. This seemed to be enough motivation, once we gained the East Ridge the stoke outweighed any fatigue in the group. We got visuals on most of the other fun lines in the area, like Aetna and Banana Mountain and took some notes for later.

Our initial plan was to ski off of the summit to a bowl directly south, and boy did it look fun. However on the way up to the summit we did notice a fair amount of whumphing, so we played it safe and opted for a more gradual line that sat a few hundred feet east.

22019_03 — This was our line. Tracks are hard to see but it was a blast.

Once the main descent was done, we just followed some drainages back to the reservoir, crossed, then descended the winter trail back to the car. Kyle and Dave both had work that day and, typical of these pre-work outings, were late again.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

telecus	Nice ski line 02/16/2023 13:08 That's a fun climb and ski, I've skied Clover several times. We traversed over from Monarch a couple times and then hitched back up to the parking lot. The other times we skied it we came up the road to the Lost Wonder hut and climbed up to the SE ridge and then to the top. When we came in this way, we skied back to tree line on Clover and then climbed the ridge that divides the Clover drainage from the one the Lost Wonder hut is in. Then we got a fun ski back to the out and out the road. I still haven't gone back and skied the Couloir that goes back into the Lost Wonder Hut drainage. We never trusted that in the winter to not be cross loaded and ready to slide.
cottonmountaineering	sweet 02/17/2023 13:05 this looks like a cool mountain, thanks for sharing

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