This was my first ascent of a peak in snow. This was an LVMC trip to Brian Head Ski area. I did some snowshoeing on Friday and skied on Saturday. I was going to ski again on Sunday but no one else was going to and some wanted to hike up to Brian Head Peak so I decided to save the cost of the lift ticket and join them.

We drove up to the Cedar Breaks parking area. The starting elevation was about 10,420 feet. Two people in our group snowshoed their way to the summit. I and another hiker hiked to the summit. We crossed the highway and followed the road (covered in snow) down to where the road turned to go up to the summit. This road is used by cross-country skiers and snowmobiles in the winter. It was about a half a mile to this point.

Ascending the ridgeline

Next we followed the road up along the SW side of the peak, and then up to the south ridge, where we left the road. The snow was mostly packed, but there were about half a dozen spots where I sunk knee-deep in the snow. Once we got close to the summit, it got very cold and windy. The windchill had to be below 0ºF. I went over and took some pictures of the Brian Head summit sign, and some of the views. I would have set up my tripod to get more photos but it was too cold. It was about a mile and a half to the summit.

Sacha with the peak in the background

On the route down I got some more photos. Once I got down past the second ridge I noticed a lot of smooth snow down to the road. I decided to slide down the mountain. I slid down about 100 yards or so. It was very fun. After we got back to the parking area, we waited for the other people in our group that went snowshoeing to return, and then we headed back to Las Vegas after an enjoyable weekend.

After eating a good breakfast at IHOP, I and a new member from Washington state, Dean Molen, started driving for Hayford Peak. We stopped at Corn Creek Field Station to sign into the register, which helps the Wildlife Refuge get funding. We then started heading north on Alamo Road.

On the drive along Alamo Road, we enjoyed the views of the snow-topped Spring Mountains to the west. Just after the turnoff for Joe May Canyon, the first turnoff along Alamo Road, we hit a little bump. Be sure to drive slow over this section. We continued on past Cow Camp Road, the next turnoff about 10 miles up the way. Just as we passed Cow Camp Road we noticed the sun was getting ready to rise. We stopped and watched the sun rise over Sheep Peak.

Continuing on, the road was in great shape. We then came to our turnoff, Hidden Forest Road. We turned right and headed for the end of the road. This is where we parked. We then got ready and started hiking into Deadman Canyon. The elevation at the trailhead was about 5,850 feet. We parked at 36° 37.739 N and 115° 17.285 W. We hiked down past the gate sign for Deadman Canyon. From here there is about 50 feet elevation loss to the bigger gate a little way down. The hike along the old road to the cabin was filled with many rocks and gravel. About 1.4 miles into the hike we ran into a little snow. This was at about 6,340 feet. Again after 3.1 miles at 7,200 feet, we ran into more snow along the road/trail. It was never more than ankle-deep along here though. We saw some footprints and dogprints. We even saw one that looked like it could have been the footprint of a mountain lion.

Snow was scattered all the way to the cabin. At 3.7 miles, 7,442 feet, we saw a big huge dead tree that had fallen along the road. We ducked under it and continued to the cabin. We finally reached the Hidden Forest cabin after 4.7 miles. (36° 37.883 N, 115° 12.471 W). We refueled ourselves with some food and checked out the cabin. The cabin had a bunk to sleep, a fireplace, cooking utensils, a flashlight, and more.

After leaving the cabin, we hiked up the first ridge on the north side of the cabin. It started out steep. After about 0.4 miles from the cabin, we got our first view of Hayford’s summit. (36° 38.237 N, 115° 12.505 W). We then reached a rocky outcrop at 36° 38.384 N, 115° 12.470 W. We went on the right side, which ended up being brushy, before coming back on the ridge. We should have gone to the left of this.

The views of Sheep Peak, and the Spring Mountains were gorgeous. It was partly cloudy the whole time; I hardly needed to put on my sunglasses. We continued following the ridge north. Many cairns mark the route. We got to the top of a ridge just before going down a little bit to the saddle below Hayford. Our coordinates at the top of this ridge was 36° 39.101N, 115° 12.575W. The elevation here was about 9,200 feet. There is also a cairn here. Then about 50 feet down the ridge, two more cairns mark the path down the ridge. Hiking down to the saddle we ran into calf-deep snow. At the saddle we were down to 9,087 feet. (36° 39.216 N, 115° 12.406W)

Now it was time to start the final ascent up to Hayford Peak. We could see a rocky outcrop halfway up the ridge. We hiked up towards this staying on the right of the outcrop. We hit some areas here where we got into knee-deep snow, but it was only for a short distance. We then continued our way up to the summit.

Finally after seven miles we were on the summit. Great 360° views were enjoyed of Gass Peak, Spring Mountains, Sheep Peak, and much more. Moapa Peak to the east was stunning!

We then took numerous photos and refueled. The benchmark was nowhere to be seen as there was a mound of 4-5 feet of snow on the true summit. The summit register was at the edge of this snowdrift luckily. We were the first ones to summit Hayford Peak this year. It was last summited on November 25, 2006. It was starting to get chilly. We then put on our gloves as we started to descend.

It was nice coming down, as the hard part was all over. We retraced our steps and followed the cairns back to Deadman Canyon by the Hidden Forest Cabin. We then hiked the rest of the way back to Hidden Forest Road. It was great to return and take off my shoes after all the hiking on rocks and gravel along the way from the cabin back to the vehicle. It was a full day.

Sacha on the summit with Sheep Peak in the background

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A Testimonial to LVMC's Training Snafu, I sure am glad I took your rappelling clinic!!! Yesterday, a group of us canyoneered through Spry Canyon. As a result of some miscommunications, we ended up not having enough descending devices when we got to the first rap. I ended up using a Munter hitch for no less than 14 rappels, including a 170 footer. I survived the challenge, but still have the burning smell of rope-on-rope friction in my nose and my carabiner remained hot enough this morning to iron my shirts! I also have a lot of untwisting to do with my ropes. But if it weren't for the Munter, we probably wouldn't have made it out of the canyon before dark and might have had to bivvy there overnight...You might want to relay this story to any future participants in your rappelling clinic who think that knowing how to tie a Munter won't come in handy someday. You taught me just in the nick of time! Ron