Gib Ledges

[glennm]

Climbed Gib Ledges with my friend River on April 1st and 2nd. Approach was in the clouds and sleet until approx. 8000' on the snowfield, then clear. The wind picked up to the point taht I could swear the hut was shaking through the night. Up at 1AM then back to sleep until 3 AM- too much wind. On the road by 4:30 AM- light wind, good snow (for a few minutes) quickly followed by relentless blasts of winds lastin until about 4 or 5 PM which at times knocked us off our feet. Made slow progress due to wind, but otherwise a beautiful day with nobody else on the mountain.Must add- the snow on the Ledge portion of the route seemed kind of rotten, more so than we expected this time of year.Had the odd experience of punching through into the steam caves while crossing the crater to the true summit. Downclimbing is my least favorite experience- really wished I'd had skis. I noticed very little in the way of open slots, and the Gib Chute looked as though it had softened up nicely by early afternoon, although I imagine it would have been good snow anytime of day conditions being what they were. Came down the snowfield at sunset- really one of the nicest parts of the trip. There was only one other person to be seen- Muir snowfield is a pretty cool place when its empty on a suny day.

[To_The_Top]

Sounds like you had a good trip. Did you decend the ledges? I heard there was a short steep ice section above the ledges, did you encounter this? TTT

[glennm]

No ice, it was a short "steep" snow section at the time. It was an easy walk down because of good snow and moderate steepness.