Icicle/Enchantments Alpine Climbing Conditions

[wavewheel8]

A friend and I have been thinking about doing some alpine climbing in the Icicle/Enchantments area this weekend. Two climbs that we're considering are the West Ridge of Prusik Peak and the North Face route on The Mole. Does anyone have any info on what snow conditions are likely to be on the approach to either of these climbs? I'm assuming that if we did The Mole we would car-camp by Icicle Creek and do an early-morning hike up the Hook Creek drainage to get to the climb. If we did Prusik Peak, I think the plan would be to hike in the afternoon before and camp at Lake Viviane. If anyone who's been to either of these areas would like to give a report on the snow conditions, I'd really appreciate it.

[telemarker]

Here's a photo I took last Saturday that may give you a general idea of where you will hit snow in Hook Creek.

 

[goran]

I was up at Colchuck Lake for two days last weekend. The snow line was about 4600 feet on the hike in on Saturday morning, and about 5300 feet by the hike out on Sunday afternoon. The lake is melted out, but the ground around it still has plenty of snow; by the look of it, a foot or more fell in the area last week.

 

I'd describe Aasgard as wallowy but passable. I'd assume the long, flat(ish) walk over to Prusik would involve some postholing but wouldn't be too heinous. That said, everything on Dragontail and Colchuck was thoroughly drenched during our visit, largely because the wet dump of snow from the week stuck in all sorts of improbable places and continued to melt, seep, and fall down. If Prusik had a similar snow fall (and I reckon it did), it'll take a bit of time for the snow to melt off and everything to dry out.