Emmons-Winthrop? Mowich? Kautz?

[Big_Sky_Ry]

We're heading to Seattle in a few days to spend some time on the mountain. Does anyone have any updated route conditions (ie from this weekend) for the Emmons/Winthrop? Mowich? Kautz Glacier? Road to Mowich still open?

 

Thanks,

Ryan J

---

We don't need no stinkin' Nietzsche

Lighten Up Buddy

BackpackingLight.COM

[salbrecher]

STAY AWAY FROM THE EMMONS

We'll be on it

[salbrecher]

http://www.nps.gov/mora/climb/climb_cd.htm

[Lambone]

Whats up Ryan, good to see you representin the Bozeman crowd! Winter (i.e. grey and wet) has arived. It was cold last week, and pecipitation moved in over the weekend, expect new snow, possibly unstable on top of ice. Good luck.

[chilly]

Mowich is still open.

[Big_Sky_Ry]

Thanks Lambone. At least someone has some foul weather. It's been blue sky in the big sky and we're in year 3 of drought. Hope Hyalite gets icy soon. Went to the Tetons 2 wks ago and had an epic on the Middle Teton (trying to) climb ice up the couloir of the glacier route. Hard. Black & water ice. Thin. Picks & screws now need serious repair. Dinnerplaters nearly every swing. Ugly but still fun. Included nighttime descent and 18 raps off the mountain from the summit block (200 ft short of top, we were stopped due to verglas) and down a rotten cliffy couloir (ellingwood). 35 hours car-to-car (no we didn't break any speed records) and the sleep-deprivation hallucinations were awesome.

Needless to say, ice conditions in the northern rockies could be better right now.

Ryan

[Lambone]

Sphinx should be getting close eh? I once climbed Twin on my birthday Oct 28th, twas nice! Drought = easy Hylite acces at least! You know Tony or Jason perhaps? Maybe see ya this winter. peace.

[benman]

A friend and I climbed the Emmons on sunday. Overall, the route is in great shape although snow conditions are less than optimal. We encountered a fair amount of water ice on the lower Inter Glacier and between 10,000 and 12,000ft on the Emmons. The later was quite rough and slow going.

 

We carried skis hoping for some freshies but ended up ditching them at around 11,000ft due to frustrations with the snow conditions and wind. There was a window of packed powder between 12,000 and 13,000ft that would have been worthwhile, given more time and energy. We left the parking lot at 4am, summited at 4pm and got back around midnight.

 

Salbrecher, I wouldn't worry about crowds. There were no cars in the parking lot when we got there and leftover tracks were hard to come by.

 

Let me know if you'd like more info on key turns and dead ends. Also, check with NPS about the gate because I've heard White River is scheduled to close soon.

[Lambone]

Benman,

 

nice job1 Were the sun cups (pentientes (sp?)) still pretty large up above the icy section past 11,000ft ish? They were about three ft deep at the end of August. Just wondering if they had filled in much.

[benman]

The icy suncup, pentientes, fin like things in the corridor were, at most, 1-2ft high. New snow filled in some of the gaps but it was far from skiable.

 

It seemed like we found nearly every dead end so for those who care...

 

Starting out right and working your way up the center of the Inter glacier works best. We avoided Camp Shurman by heading straight for the corridor but that involved at least one sketcy crevasse crossing. I think passing through Camp Shurman would be better. Go left as soon as possible above the window of packed powder around 12,500ft. You'll traverse off the Emmons and climb a bit to an obvious path that joins the DC route. Finally, be prepared for a long and painful descent. I recall lots of lock-knees through the corridor and descending the Inter glacier in the dark was no fun.

[Lambone]

Those were the coolest snow formations I have ever seen, makes me want to go check out the Andes.