Early August route conditions?

[jnrose5]

I've tentatively scheduled a climb in late-July and early-August. Obviously everything in the PNW is under pretty low snow conditions this year, and my impression is that it's melting out steadily as the summer progresses. I'm wondering if folks who've been on the mountain this year have any early prognostications as to whether or not it's reasonable to climb the Emmons or the DC at the very end of July.

 

Will the routes be reasonable at that point in the summer? Will the routes be so wrecked by crevasses that it's difficult to get above Camp Muir or Camp Schurman? Are guide companies looking at putting in ladders when the time comes, or are they bailing late in the season?

 

I've been on both routes before, but have no idea what they might look like under such low snow conditions - any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks...

[JBC]

Not looking real good for August this year. Things appear to be about a month advanced at this point. The guide services have already put in at three ladders on the DC route and things are melting out fast. The Emmons/Winthrop looks to be holding up better at this point, but I expect it will be very icy up top by August. I would say get on Rainer now, or if you have to schedule your climb for August make other plans.

[Mountainstyle]

It looks like August up there already. Things are pretty melted out, plenty of crevasses to navigate around (anticipate taking longer to summit). Everyone left Schurman between 10-10:30 PM for the summit bid. Snowbridges are pretty unstable. We were up on the Emmons July 19-20. A climber on a rope team ahead of us punched through a crevasse in the corridor, was injured (broken leg), spent the night, and required a helo rescuse the next morning. Exercise plenty of caution this time of the year. The attached picture is of Interglacier, which is normally under much more snow. The red line is the route most folks (including RMI teams) were taking up/down, the blue line is the one we took. I was told that a week prior to this picture, you could glissade down most of interglacier. Things are melting quickly! Good luck.