Today was a writing day, not a hiking day. The original plan was to do Washington through Pierce or Jackson but I decided on yesterday that today's high winds would make this a writing day, instead. Tonight, the following was posted as a trail condition by someone who was part of a group that tried to go up the Ammo Trail, as we would have on the way to Washington. This person's group may have been going to Washington, too, or maybe Monroe. But they got no further than the closed Monroe Hut. Here's what was posted by an anonymous poster:
Talk about extreme conditions! This was as far as we'd like to experience but we were prepared for them. Near the hut temperature was about 2 degrees with winds at about 55 mph; visibility was about 50 feet. We figure it was 25 below zero with windchill. It was essential not to have any exposed skin. We had trouble finding the hut due to poor visiblity and route finding was a challenge. It was only when we were almost on top of the hut did we find it. The door to the dungeon had about 1-2 feet of ice build up on the opening so it was impossible to open. There are no steps on the steep ascent after Gem Pool so you are basically walking right up an ice chute. Most of us glissaded down Ammo using our ice axes as a brake.
