Mount Defiance

Mount Defiance (5,584ft)

Looking down the trail from below Mason Lake

Dec 1, 2019, Eric

My flight landed mid morning Sunday coming back from Thanksgiving in KY, and I had a few hours of daylight in the afternoon to squeeze in a hike. I was meaning to test out two pairs of 8,000m boots for an upcoming high-altitude mountaineering trip, and this trip would be a good way to see which pair was most comfortable.

I started up the Ira Springs trailhead at noon, just at the edge of snowline. Many people were coming down for the day, and I think I looked kind of goofy in my monster mountaineering boots when they were in little trail runners, but I didn’t care. I started up in the yellow boots, then switched to the purple ones at Mason Lake. The lake was frozen, with ankle deep snow on the ground and more falling from the low clouds above.

I continued up, following windswept tracks to reach the summit about an hour before sunset. It was windy, snowing, and low visibility, so I abandoned plans of continuing on to tag other peaks and just headed down. I managed to get back just after sunset, after another few inches of snow blanketed the parking lot. The purple boots were the clear winners, and it was a successful hike.

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