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West Granite Mountain (Tusk O'Granite)

12/31/2025

I took advantage of a spectacular winter weather day to climb West Granite Mountain aka Tusk O’Granite, starting from the standard Pratt Lake/Granite Mountain Trailhead on a frosty morning at about 8 am. The whole parking lot was a sheet of ice (thankfully the road in from I-90 wasn’t too bad) so I wore microspikes from the car.


Snowy forest with tall trees and sunlight streaming through, creating shadows on the ground. Calm, serene winter setting.
Typical forest climbing

I hiked up the very familiar trail, continuing past the Granite Mountain trail intersection for about 0.5 miles towards Pratt Lake.


Here, I saw some snowshoe tracks leave the main trail and knew it was my cue to do the same. I took my microspikes off and donned snowshoes, following the tracks of the previous party steeply uphill. The slope climbed relentlessly but travel was easy through open forest. The only small difficulty was a band of twiggy slide alder at around 4600’, but this was easily navigated through.


I soon found myself starting to break out of the thick trees and getting glimpses of nice views back to the main Granite Mountain peak with its distinctive lookout structure. Things were going almost too easily until I crested above 5000’ and reached a semi-flat part of the ridge. Here, the tracks I had been following abruptly stopped. It seems like the party from the day before had decided to turn around.


I had benefited so much from their trail-breaking that I guess it was time I did something to earn this summit. I set off, blazing my own trail along the flat ridgeline. It seemed like it had been very windy the day before, as there were lots of cool wind-sculpted features on this ridgeline. This also thankfully made the snow much more supportive than it otherwise would have been, so I was able to make quick progress.


Snow-capped mountain in the background with tall evergreen trees in the foreground. Clear blue sky creates a serene, wintery scene.
First views of Rainier
Snow-covered mountain with pine trees, clear blue sky, and misty clouds in the background creating a serene, wintery scene.
Looking back toward Granite Mountain
Snowy mountain landscape with trees and distant peaks under a clear blue sky. Footprints lead through the snow
My tracks

Eventually the slope steepened for the last 400 feet of climbing to the summit, and I switch backed my way up, choosing the path of least resistance. The summit had great views in all directions of Snoqualmie Pass, Mount Rainier, the Seattle area and Olympics. Kaleetan was particularly striking from this angle. It’s hard to believe there is a fairly easy way up that!


Snow-covered mountains with pine trees under a clear blue sky. Jagged peaks and valleys create a wintry landscape.
Kaleetan and Chair
Snow-covered mountain range with pine trees, blue sky, and distant fog. Sunlight casts shadows, creating a serene winter landscape.
Snoqualmie Pass looked like it avoided some of the inversion warmth
Snowy hill with rocks and conifer trees under a vibrant blue sky filled with scattered clouds. Shadow of trees stretches across the snow.
Blue skies looking back up to the summit
Snowy mountain with evergreen trees under a bright blue sky. Rolling snowdrifts in the foreground create a serene winter landscape.
Lots of wind-sculpted snow

One curious feature of the day was that there was a strong temperature inversion. It was t-shirt weather up top, while the lowlands remained cold throughout the day. After taking it all in for a while, I began my plunge-stepping descent all the way back to the Pratt Lake trail. I made it all the way back to the main trail and was surprised to look at the time and see it was only 11:45 am. This proved to be a pretty quick outing, car to car in 4 hours and 23 minutes, and was a great choice for the conditions and beautiful weather.



Final Stats: 7.38 miles / 3708 feet of gain


 
 
 

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