The plan for today was to hike to the summit of Alta Peak, 11,200 feet. Kathy and John near the start of the hike at Wolverton around 7,400 feet.

A small water crossing.

John checks out the view to the south from Panther Gap.

A view of Castle Rocks from Panther Gap.

There were a lot of nice rock formations on the lower part of the trail.

The views from the trail were awesome.

This is around the 9,000 foot level, where the icy snow started.

Bear print in the snow.

John and Kathy. We stopped here at Mehrteh Meadow for a short snack break.

We lost the trail here, but found it a short time later.

We had a good view of the Great Western Divide.

It was difficult at times following the trail.

The views improved as we gained altitude.

At this point we lost the trail around 10,000 feet, so we just kept climbing towards the summit.

There were some limber pines near the summit.

You can see Alta Peak's summit on the right, this section was really steep.

John chopping steps in the ice to get down after a trying to climb the summit block..

A group shot just off the summit at 11,200 feet, to much ice for us to climb the last 20 feet.

Starting the descent off the peak.

The view was unreal as we started our descent. Tharps Rock on the left.

We boot skied for 1,700 feet down this chute. It's a lot steeper than it looks.

This section was very steep with a lot of rocks.

John's trail snakes down the chute. Kathy up ahead.

Below 9,000 feet we were off the snow and on soild ground again.

The sun set with about three miles the go. We made it back to the trailhead just as it got dark

Joe(me), John, Kathy, Ken and Bob around the campfire. When we got back to camp, Ken and Bob were there waiting for us.

John had some home brewed beer with him. Great stuff!!! Doing Alta Peak in the snow was a lot of fun. Especially boot sking down the chute.

THE END