Kendall Lakes/Knob Splitboarding

We arrived at 7:30 to a half full parking at the trailhead, it is a Sno-Park and a permit is needed, and there are a couple of portable toilets there. For sure it was a beatiful sunny day, but I think this trailhead is very popular on all weekends.

I used a splitboard with skins to go up, but the trail was very hardly packed and I saw most people use micro-spikes. In the end, you could just walk on top of it with regular footwear.

The hike is a beautiful open and wide road, so it is very easy to follow as long as you have a map or a sense or where to turn on one or two forks that are there on the way. One think I like about this trail is that it offers many viewpoints where you can see Guy Peak and what would be the Pacific Crest Trail.

It can become very bright once you get close to the top, or on the way back, so it is always a good idea to bring eye protection.

The original plan was to head to the lakes, and then to the knob. I braced my poor legs (think glutes, or rather non-existent glutes) for an activity I had never done before. I was completely wasted; The plans changed and we headed directly to the knob to have some hard-earned lunch.

It was a very cold day and the night before was too, so we had the opportunity to see some very beautiful surface hoard at the knob.

Ever so excited I removed the skins from the skis, and stuck them together as a snowboard. Struggled a little bit to get it to align, but at the end it worked out.

Then the reality hit - The boot path was very well made and very deep, so it had walls on its sides. It was so icy that it was impossible to turn and break those walls with the board. The snow to the sides was very post holed so it was impossible to ski there too. I fell a lot, I got a couple of good whacks and got ice on all my clothes. Demoralized, cold and bruised I decided that it would be better to just walk down with the board on my back.

I didn't plan for such scenario, so I had no spikes nor snowshoes. I walked the last 3 miles down on my bare snowboard boots. And that's how I know that the trail was so packed that you didn't need traction devices.