Climbers: Mitch Hungate, Ron Husa, Bruce Kolpack, Terry Mataya, and Mitch's friend John.
We met at Ken's Truck Stop at 6:00 AM Saturday, April 18th. After breakfast and a short drive to the Denny Creek trailhead, we were hiking by 7:30. We didn't expect so much snow; in fact, the last half mile of road was snowed in.
The trail reached Snowshoe Falls in 3 miles, crossed Hemlock Pass in 4.5 miles, and reached Melakwa Lake in about 5 miles. Since the whole valley was covered in snow, we were able to take a more direct route.
We skirted the West side of the lake and reached the base of Kaleetan in another miles or so. The soft snow in the open slopes between the lake and the base of the peak were negotiated more easily in snowshoes. We kicked steps (Mitch kicked most of them) up a steep gully to attain the South Ridge and kicked more steps up the steep slopes on the West side of the ridge. We reached the summit at around 1 PM and enjoyed a great view in perfect weather.
We got back to the cars at 5:30.