My partner and I went up gold creek 1/20-21. We had your waypoints marked, but in cascadian fashion we were thwarted by the winter approach and didn't even make it to the first waypoint point marked moderate ice.
The play by play: Parked on FS 4832. First 2 miles were easy snow road walking, but as soon as the tourist trail ended, we were breaking trail through deep powder. We were also traveling very heavy; packs were loaded with winter camping gear, partly to test some kit for Denali. With the conditions we got, flotation was paramount - skis fared well but snowshoes were sketchy and punched chest deep into some hidden snow bridges. Needless to say, our pace slowed dramatically. We eventually stopped and set up camp, just after the Alpine Lakes Wilderness border, when faced with a creek crossing with steep powder banks and no bridge. We found a bit of ice out there! A few hundred feet above our far point was a tantalizing 10m flow of WI3/4. But we did not launch on it, being generally exhausted, close to night, and the main flow was dripping wet. We settled for a bit of ice bouldering on a dry section before returning to camp. Next morning we woke up to dumping snow, even warmer temps, and we were still tired. I think the weather was trying to tell us it was a ski weekend, or maybe we should have gone to franklin falls (in all-time condition!) like everyone else, lol.
A competent crew experienced in winter backcountry travel could probably get out to your waypoints, climb, and get back in a day, but that crew was not us. A steep cliff would be best in winter as anything less than almost vertical was covered in powder. spring or fall would have less snow but probably not be cold enough to have the ice.
Main flow (center looked fun except for being dripping wet). Waypoint: 47.42359, -121.35594
Ice bouldering
approach fun:
Map
