Hydromonster - get it while there's a beaten path to it!

Today we climbed Hydromonster. It took us 2.5 hours of snowshoeing to get to it but if you hit it before the next storm and follow our tracks you can probably get to it in 60 minutes. As indicated in the Winterdance guidebook, park at the pullout with the "Baronette Peak" lookout sign. Walk towards Tower Jct 0.4 miles to the bridge and catch our snowshoe trail on the other side of the drainage. We had never been there before so our track may not be the most direct route to the climb but following it will still be much faster than breaking your own trail (it took us only 45 minutes to walk back to the car by following our trail). When you get to the cliff band, follow it all the way to the base of the climb. Where the path narrows to an itimidating sloping snow ledge take your snowshoes off (and put on your crampons?) You're only 50 feet from the climb and it's much better to stay on this ledge than to walk down and around like we did. Have fun! Meg and Alex