Solo snowshoe with solo snowshoe Monahan 3775’

With the new dog I have been longing to get out and do some climbing . I thought Monahan’ west ridge would be a good test for the young pups legs and not be overly taxing for his now aged brother. I parked just past Monahan road where there was enough space to keep me mostly off the road. I backtracked on the road and used the power line  access road to reach the forested slopes above. The snow was highly variable but improved once I was in the forest . The grade isn’t overly steep but there are enough bumps along the ridge to make navigating interesting . I ended up getting sucked too far south and had to traverse an unpleasant clear cut. Once back on the ridge the going once again was straightforward . 


The last bit there was a very steep 75’ portion that I was unable to coax the dogs up. Not wanting to downclimb and the reclimb the portion with each dog I decided  since I had already climbed Monahan I was good to head back . On the downclimb of a steeper portion my snowshoe submarined and wedged under a rock, luckily I was able to spin out of the tension on my leg avoiding injury . It took some time to figure out how to get my self righted , once free I was dismayed to see I had broken the hinge on my snowshoe . I managed to make it a short ways before it came  completely apart . I was forced to do more than half the descent with only one snowshoe . I managed to make decent time with only a sore left leg from constantly having to push up from my postholing right leg . Really good to get out again