Admin’s Trip Reports

Revisited Pinafore Creek and Pinafore Falls in mid-January 2022 to test out some new ice gear - an ice axe, hiking crampons, and a trusty helmet to keep my dome safe. I first found that the waterfall adjacent to the Pine Creek Trail had been totally washed out - this is no longer a waterfall! The old 6-foot falls is gone, but it made for an easy ascent into the creek to start the icy hike up stream. Pinafore creek is not very difficult to navigate in icy conditions, but hikers must check every step to ensure they don't fall into a watery hole - using your ice axe makes this easy. The difficult section comes about half-way where the first 5-foot waterfall sits. Here, hikers don't have much of a choice but to climb the waterfall - using your ice axe you can easily find grip at the top of the falls, but finding something to hold (without 2 axes) can be difficult. On this adventure I found a 10" hole frozen in the waterfall, so I stuck my hand in to check the thickness - was about 3" thick. I then grabbed on, stepped my crampons into the waterfall, and pulled myself up with the natural handhold and ice axe. Next obstacle are the 5 to 10-foot waterfalls that look like frozen steps. Here, it's easiest to make your way to the north side of the creek - without plunging into freezing water - to make your way up some natural rocky steps. Assuming the waterfall is frozen enough, you can then crampon your way up and across the thickest section of the 10-foot waterfall. From here, making your way to Pinafore Falls (~20-foot cascade) is fairly simple - stay to the left-hand side of the creek (north side) to stay on thicker ice with rocks scattered throughout. Finally, at Pinafore Falls, sit and enjoy the trickle as the creek flows beneath the ice as it makes its way down the creek. This was probably the most fun I've had in the winter in a long time, but traversing this ice without proper gear should not be attempted!