I had a great trip up Koppen mountain in the Teanaway region of the Cascade mountains with Mike, Rick and Rachel. The original plan was to climb up Esmeralda Peak but since the area had just got a dumping of fresh snow and the weather forecast was for high winds and snow we decided on Koppen instead. It is a little shorter trip than Esmeralda and has a trail to the top when it isn't covered in snow so this seemed like a better choice.
As we drove over the pass it looked like we were in for a wet and stormy day, but as we continued to drive East the rain shadow began to work it's magic.
We started hiking with a light dusting of snow on the ground that got increasingly deeper as we continued to climb. We were able to follow the trail as far as the saddle at 5040 but from there we had to navigate cross country. Because the mountains in this tend to be open with very little brush we were able to make our way without much difficulty. We followed the ridge South and with the use of Mike's GPS were able to stay on route when it flattened out and became less clear which way we should go.
Near the summit the snow was a foot and a half to two feet deep of light fluffy powder. The sun began to peek out and we were treated to some patches of blue sky. I was surprised how pleasant it was at the summit especially considering I was expecting a pretty stormy day. We took some photos and signed the summit register before heading down a little lower to take a rest break and eat.
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