5/18/2024 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/20/2024, By: aksean22 Info: The road is plowed all the way to the outhouse parking at 11,300', however there are some new snow drifts that stopped everyone about 1/4 mile below. No problems making it to that point in a Crosstrek. Continuous snow from car to summit. We climbed the Lavender couloir and skied directly off the summit down the Birthday chutes. Great corn the whole way, still lots of snow up there. There is also a bomber anchor at the top to access the Snake. |
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5/9/2024 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/9/2024, By: lang_daly Info: Road is clear to 11k. Lots of snow up there. Cornice on the notch feature where the standard route turns off of lavender couloir, theres a fourth class workaround a little higher up |
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1/1/2024 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 1/1/2024, By: supranihilest Info: The road from the gate is icy but no traction needed. From the end of the plowing to the outhouse is bootable - thanks to Kiefer for putting in the initial trench. We put showshoes on shortly after that since the trench ended. The snow beyond the outhouse was awful crust with bottomless sugar underneath. Massive thanks to Heather for taking the lead literally all the way to the bottom of the couloir - very arduous trenching up to the south slopes, and brutal, knee deep trash with rocks and trapdoors all the way up the south slopes. We wore our snowshoes all the way to the bottom of the couloir since booting would have been so much worse. Snow in the couloir was too steep for snowshoes so we cramponed up there. More garbage snow, mostly knee deep postholing and ample waist deep wallowing. There were a few nicer sections of supportive snow but for the most part it was an exhausting effort up the couloir. The last 30 feet to the V-notch took probably 10 minutes, the wallowing was something else there. The V-notch was covered in the usual trash snow and too exposed for our liking so we went up the Class 3 chimney just to climber's right. This required a fair amount of excavating snow off, both climbing up and down, but the rock was solid and holds plentiful (once we'd dug them out, of course). Above this things mellowed out some, but all the rocks were covered in snow so we took it slowly and carefully due to the exposure. Typical postholing to the summit with some Class 2+ and Class 3. We carefully down climbed back to the crux scramble, excavated some more, then half down climbed the couloir facing in, half plunge stepped it. Pretty sure we absolutely trashed it because the snow was so soft, sorry. We then booted back down the south slopes since snowshoes would have been useless and a great way to face plant. I can guarantee we trashed the slopes, there was so much knee to waist deep postholing it was silly. From the bottom of the slopes we wore snowshoes back to the plowed road and then booted back to the cars. Overall crummy but safe snow conditions, but to be expected in January. There were no signs of instability, a must on this route. Anyone who goes up can follow our trench, if you want. Not sure it'll really matter with how much postholing you'll surely be doing! Gear: flotation, ice axe, crampons, helmet all mandatory. |
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10/14/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 10/15/2023, By: tmpolistina Info: Pretty much no snow for the entire climb. The most snow I saw for the entire climb was at the V Notch. I did not like it, but watched 3 people complete it without slipping. I climbed up the feature just to the right. Conditions were perfect otherwise. |
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10/7/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/7/2023, By: fsun71 Info: Went up southwest ridge and down south slopes. Southwest ridge remarkably still full summer conditions (surrounding peaks are all dusted with snow). A bit of snow/ice in the v-notch on the south slopes, adding some challenge to that area. |
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10/5/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 10/5/2023, By: IFoundItUnderThere Info: Light snow from earlier this week is melting and made it a little slick/muddy up top, otherwise clear and summer like conditions. |
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9/24/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: ML_Elevation Info: Summer conditions |
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9/22/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: francismueller Info: Despite the freezing temperatures and strong winds, we had perfect conditions. No snow or ice on the entire route. |
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9/17/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/19/2023, By: dustinbarrett Info: Lower Blue Lake to Southwest Ridge. A bit a snow fell on 9/16. We got a late start (10am) to give the sun a chance to dry things out. Summer conditions up through the saddle. We hit a few stretches of snow in some of the upper gullies (around the Kissing Camels section) but were able to cross without traction. The rest of the technical portion was dry. Some precipitation came in the afternoon of 9/18 so would expect snow to start accumulating. For the rest of this season plan on taking microspikes at least and crampons within a few weeks. |
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9/11/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/11/2023, By: Wentzl Info: Trace of new snow above 13,000'. No snow on either SW Ridge or S Slopes routes. |
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8/5/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 8/8/2023, By: samfarmer789 Info: Complete summer conditions, parked at the sign for 4WD and it was exactly 8 mi total. Went up the ridge and down the standard route - ridge route was much more stable and fun lol I did not like the scree field down the gully of the standard route. Rock is loose so make sure you bring a helmet, it's a great hike!! |
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7/27/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/27/2023, By: Logan5280 Info: Route is dry, except for a short but steep snowfield in the couloir near the summit. Consider bringing a helmet because there are plenty of large rocks ready to slide. |
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7/21/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: slawrence2011 Info: Up ridge, skied snake and chossmaster, then hiked back via cirque col and descended Yankee boy. Snake seems out for skiing. Top ramp goes though suncupped, but below turn, rock made it unsinkable til it gets wide again. Redeemed myself by skiing chossmaster (informed of it's name by a couple people climbing N buttress, in to the ridge, much better snow. Then reascended cirque col, due to climbing snow one basin E of the E col, and was able to link to the Cirque col, in to the ridge. A few bonus turns between Cirque kismet saddle, but S side snow is basically gone. Snake should be in for climbing for a bit if you don't mind the rocks in there. Reminds me of typical bell cord conditions in late June with less runnels. |
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7/18/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/18/2023, By: salittle Info: A great day! Just a few snowfields to cross before you get to the scree/talus field, pick your line and stick with it! There is still hard packed snow in the couloir. Made it up just fine with micro spikes and trekking poles. Theres no snow at the notch or beyond. |
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7/15/2023 Route: Snake via Yankee Boy Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: Boggy B Info: Went over Kismet-Cirque saddle. Descent off N side is casual. Cover is thinning though and that will probably make it less fun. The north side of Lavender Col isn't any better. Snake conditions alright. A bit mushy below the runnel at the dogleg. Bomber in the top half. Went for the left exit, which was a tad vertical getting into but otherwise not much steeper than the rest of the route. Snake should be good to go for quite a while. |
