Crossover Butte, Dandy Mtn, Radioactive Peak

Crossover Butte (4,506ft), Dandy Mtn (4,360ft), Radioactive Peak (4,529ft)

Near Dandy Mountain

Nov 27, 2022

The lower elevations of the cascades had finally gotten enough snow that I could justify taking the snowmobile out for a ride. My goal was to test that everything was in working order before going on bigger trips this winter. It looked like Snoqualmie Pass was getting a decent amount of snow, and that’s about the closest rideable terrain to Seattle.

Riding up

Sunday morning after dropping my parents off at the airport from Thanksgiving I loaded up the sled and drove up to the Crystal Springs sno park. The sno park was gated, and grooming hasn’t yet started for the season. But a few cars and trucks were parked outside the gate and there were a few inches of snow on the ground. I parked there and unloaded next to four other trucks that had snowmobile ramps.

I noticed one of the carbides was broken, likely from my last ride in May on some long stretches of pavement. That was good to figure out, though it would be ok for this one trip. I unloaded the snowmobile and started riding up. There were deep truck ruts which made it difficult to balance, and I caught up with a convoy of eight trucks and jeeps just below Dandy Mountain. They said they were driving up for their annual trip to cut down some christmas trees.

Back at the truck

I parked the sled and hiked up Dandy Mountain, then when I came back they were still there. They were having trouble making progress but said if I went first that might help. So I rode in front and continued down for a ways. I then turned around and they had all made it to their destination. I followed roads then to radioactive peak, which I could ride to the summit of.

Next I tried to follow roads to Crossover Butte, but was stopped by dense trees. Damon and I had ridden up most of the way up this peak in 2020, but had bailed when the road turned to steep side hilling. This time I parked the sled and continued on snowshoes. I broke trail to the summit, then returned. It was getting close to dark by then so I called it good and rode back to the car.