Cascade Mountain

The other day, Sam and I decided to go for a little stroll up Rock Canyon.  Getting off to a late start (8:00 am), we started off up Rock Canyon not sure what we were going to ski.   Passing the upper campgrounds and crossing the Squaw Peak Trail road, we headed up the south west facing ravine and ascended that till the ridge.  The approach was about 1.5 hrs to the base of the ravine.  The past week summer spell had pretty much caused the whole mountain to wet slide, so the avalanche danger was minimal.  Even though the conditions lately have been about 60 degress F in the valley, a storm was currently coming in causing the snow to become icy.  This made the skinning quite nice. 

Both of us had never been on the summit of Cascade and it looked like a good day to do it.   After about 4 hrs with about 5,000 ft vertical, we reached the ridge and began the traverse to Cascade Peak (~10,800 ft).

Cascade Ridge

Sam on the traverse (Utah Lake in the background)

Cascade Mountain is a one of the prominent peaks located in the Provo Valley. It can be seen from Provo lingering above Squaw Peak. Located on the south west face, lies a chute that always catches our eyes and will definitely be explored in the future. Seen from Cascade, you also get a view point of all the potential that lies behind Provo Peak (e.g., "the Provo Ribbon" as declared by Sam). Upon summiting, we decided to drop down Cascade Bowl. It was nice, steep, and icy. 

Sam dropping into Cascade Bowl

Overall, it was about 6 hrs with about 6700 ft. vert of good recon for a future Provo-Cascade peak training-tour.  Anyone interested?