Clinton Peak

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 6/20/2020, By: dwemp6
Info: There is still a bunch of snow at Wheeler Lake and above. I was pretty surprised there was this much snow in the area, it still needs some time to melt out to be anywhere near summer conditions. My ski gear would have been great to have with me. But the road up to the lake from Montgomery Reservoir was very flooded. Yesterday's precipitation certainly added to the runoff but I have to think that is normal this time of year based on how much was sitting. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 5/30/2020, By: dwoodward13
Info: Road is snow free for about a mile from the TH. After that mix of dry and snow for a bit until its almost totally snow covered until past the lake. Snow was supportive both up and down despite the warm temps. The clear night helped. You can choose to stick to snow basically the whole way up Clinton. There are some rocks climbers right that could also be used. Traverse to McNamee/Traver was dry. We took a rib off Traver basically back to the road below the lake to avoid some potential nightmare snow. Was mostly dry with a few nice sections of glissades and plunge stepping. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: bludwig
Info: Road beyond trailhead is a mess of deep snow and water. We did the loop clockwise (Traver, McNamee, then Clinton) because Clinton was pretty buried. Once on Traver, it's fast to get to Clinton and then ski or glissade down. Photo #1 is side of Clinton where we decided to glissade off. Photo #2 is a section of the road. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 5/10/2020, By: dcruz654
Info: Road clear to parking at reservoir. Snow starts as soon as you leave the parking, but don't bother skinning. There are several water holes you have to navigate around (ie pic1) and the road is an utter mess until you leave the woods (about once you're underneath "east northstar"). Continuous snow from there to summit if you want. I brought my splitboard but ended up booting car to summit, the snow was super firm at 530am. Imo Clinton is past it's prime for a ski. Unless you're taking the East chute that pops out east of the summit, the terrain is bleh and the effort isn't worth it. I ended up dropping off the summit 400' towards mcnamee before switching back to booting up. Snow was still very very firm at 9am. Booted up McNamee, skiid ridge towards traver, booted up that, skiid down Traver's SE face all the way back to the road. 530am start, 7am wheeler lake, 9am Clinton summit, 10am mcnamee, 1030 traver, noon back at car. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 12/24/2019, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Looooooooong approach, but nothing difficult - we put on snowshoes at the mill and kept them most of the remaining hike. The lake is frozen and covered over enough to be crossable, though going one at a time is a good idea. Plenty of snow crossings on steep terrain above the lake. Taking the most direct route up to Clinton puts you onto a particular steep, powdery slope; a way to avoid this is via my descent route of a faint but present trail that goes up McNamee's slopes directly to its summit. I only did Clinton and McNamee. My buddy went in to Travers and said that the descent along its ridge to the basin was full of unconsolidated snow on loose rock. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 10/22/2019, By: madmattd
Info: Attempted Clinton Peak from Montgomery Reservoir Saturday morning. All wet spots on the road mentioned in prior reports were covered in 1/2"-1" of breakable ice with plenty of water beneath, but side detours were always available. The road itself had generally 1" of snow until the final climb to Wheeler Lake where 6" drifts started showing up. From the end of the road up to the upper basin there were constant drifts, often knee-deep, mixed among the rocks, making for tricky footing (might be a hole under this snow, might be a rock, who knows!). We turned around at 12,900' as the wind was ramping up and the mixed conditions were getting obnoxious and didn't look like they would change. We brought but did not use microspikes, though we thought about pulling them out once or twice on the road in the morning, the ice was never consistent enough. A side-by-side made it up to the lake during our descent, but that may not be doable much longer. Likely things changed with Sunday's snow. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 9/22/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: Easy and rolling ridge from McNamee. Class 2 scree and talus the entire way, absolutely nothing worth writing home about. Descending north to Wheeler on the other hand is a lot more involved. There's some Class 3, lots of steep terrain, some ledges to traverse on both east and west sides of the ridge, plenty of loose rock, you name it. I wasn't actually sure it would go! It does though. If you find yourself in incredibly exposed and/or difficult terrain backtrack and maybe try the other side of the ridge, especially going around bumps and towers. Often times one side of the ridge is steep and the other is more moderate and inviting. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 8/17/2019, By: Danger_D
Info: Not much to add since the last update. I maybe took 20 steps on snow the whole trip, and all of those on low angle patches. I second the water on the trail advice...bring your waterproof shoes. See the pic for the conditions on the traverse ridge (free of snow but windy as hell). One note is that the road to the lake is suuuper popular with offroaders. We didn't see a single person all day above the lake, but we had to pass 30+ jeeps/cars on the trail on the way down 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 8/13/2019, By: gorshkov
Info: As JQDivide states, there is still a lot of water on the road. It is often avoidable by going through the willows, but you will get wet either way. I was very happy to be wearing waterproof over-the-ankle boots. Also very glad I had trekking poles. There are a few snowfields above Wheeler Lake, and they're low-angle and avoidable. That said, at 7:30 AM, they were in the sweet spot (soft enough to kick steps in without traction but not so soft that I postholed), and it was usually easier to go over the snowfields than across the talus. There is still a big snowfield with a cornice under the ridge between Clinton and McNamee. The ridges themselves are completely free of snow. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 8/11/2019, By: JQDivide
Info: Lots of water on the road (look for a by-pass in the willows at each puddle... if it rained, the willows will be wet too) and lots of water still flowing above the lake. Crossed a couple snow field, but soft enough to kick steps. Didn't use mirco spiles. Made it to 13,200 before turning back for weather. Very green. Lots of wildflowers. 

Route: from Wheeler
Posted On: 8/9/2019, By: 9patrickmurphy
Info: The few trip reports I found linking Clinton to Wheeler said hardly anything of the ridge except "it's pretty straight-forward". I would agree now that I've done it, but just be ready for some class 3 moves going south from Wheeler's saddle to the first ridge bump. Nothing crazy (especially if you just did Wheeler). Then it really is straight-forward class 2 hiking without a ton of elevation loss/gain. There's a big snowfield under Clinton's summit providing a great glissade down to a small lake for the hike out. Don't leave your axe behind, it's worth it! Also a drier route if you're about that. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 7/1/2019, By: Tim A
Info: Road to Wheeler lake has numerous ponds, streams and snowfields to be negotiated. Carry your kayak up to save time coming down. The ponds lower on the road have obvious bypasses through the willows, usually on the uphill side (climbers right). Higher up, it's willow bashing or toe dipping to get past them. Snowfields on road were punchy but trench held. Snow slope to gain the bowl below the Clinton group was completely saturated at 6am, perhaps from the rainy afternoon and evening yesterday. Snow consistency was like a wet sponge, what you would expect to find mid-afternoon. Postholed up the slope and a bit further into the basin towards Clinton's SE couloir before deciding to call it a day. I'm not sure if snowshoes would help that much given how wet the snow was. Planning on going back later this week with a cooler overnight low and hopefully a clear night sky. The Clinton couloir is still in as is a moderate snow slope to climber's right of it. Democrat north face still has the two steep couloirs in to the ridge. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 4/28/2019, By: nathansmithpiano
Info: Snow the entire time, only needed boots until 9AM then put on spikes. Things started softening, by 1PM I was post-holing like crazy even in my MSR Lightning Ascent snowshoes. Surprisingly not cold all day even with high winds. Highly recommend starting early before things thaw 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 9/7/2018, By: WildWanderer
Info: Most of the peaks in the area got a light dusting of snow last night, but Clinton/McNamee/Traver did not. They are pretty much snow free except for tiny areas on the ridges which are easily avoidable. The skies were clear today so it doesn't look like the conditions will change for the weekend. There was heavy frost on the rocks above 13,000' making early morning scrambling slippery. Stick to the east side of the ridges to avoid the worst of it. Oh, and the leaves are changing in Alma. 

Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver
Posted On: 6/25/2018, By: koeffling
Info: The road is clear to Wheeler Lake, although pretty wet and large portions under water- there are bypasses through the willows in all of these areas. There's still some snow to content with above Wheeler Lake. You could probably avoid it if you go around. We did not bring snow gear and the snow was soft enough to kick steps (would have been nice to have an axe for a glissade down). In the basin and above, mostly clear of snow or easily avoidable. The traverse to the other two peaks also clear (as well as the descent off Traver).