Mt Washington conditions?

[Ireneo_Funes]

So has anyone been up the north ridge of Mt Washington recently? Is there much snow to deal with on the summit pinnacle?

[rbw1966]

I got a pretty good look at it while at Camp Sherman over the weekend. Looks to be a bit of snow on the mountain still. I was unable to tell if there was much on the summit 'pinnacle' but you'll surely encounter it on the approach. Which route are you contemplating?

 

I imagine the conditions would be similar to what was encountered on 3-Fingered Jack.

[Ireneo_Funes]

My buddy wants to take his brother (coming in from out of state and new to climbing) up the North Ridge/Standard route.

 

I was thinking of making it a 3 Fingered Jack/Mt Washington weekend to double the choss scrambling funtimes.

 

OK, so is "pinnacle" the wrong term? Maybe "summit lump"? Or "summit heap"?

[Ireneo_Funes]

OK, anyone make it up to Mt Washington this week? Or 3 Fingered Jack?

[ivan]

My buddy wants to take his brother (coming in from out of state and new to climbing) up the North Ridge/Standard route.

 

well, i guess that's one way to discourage more people from climbing - good sense too, there's too many punters out there already!

 

seriously, i can't imagine anyone getting real fired up about climbing after doing one of the rapidly eroding dung-heaps of central oregon, but if they do, they'll certainly cream their damn panties when they go north.

[MntBoy]

I was up on Washington on Monday night and didnt get to the summit pinnacle but judging by the amount of snow on the mountain, i would imagine that there was a fare amount of snow on the pinnacle.

[gapertimmy]

mtnboy, what elevation did the snow start at? and how much was on the approach trail/PCT

 

thanks!

[Ireneo_Funes]

Conditions update:

 

We made an attempt on Mt. Washington on Sunday (6/12). There was snow on the climbers trail, starting about 1/2 mile from the junction with the PCT, which made following the trail a little difficult in places. It'll probably be melted out completely pretty soon.

 

The North Ridge is mostly snow-covered. Good for step kicking on the way up, with minimal post-holing. Once we got to the top of the ridge the rock was plastered with rime ice and a little bit treacherous. We decided to turn around just under the first big tower at the top of the ridge due to poor visibility (though it cleared up fine by the time we got down, of course) and our judgement that the pinnacle was probably going to have more rime ice and snow than we felt like dealing with. No summit, but still a fun day in the mountains with some excellent partners.