Mountaineer’s Route – Trip Report 5/13-5/14
Nearly perfect condition on the mountain Friday and Saturday.
No major snow until Lower Boyscout Lake. E Ledges clear and free of ice, easy going. Most people used crampons starting at LBL, but it is passable up to UBL without them when the snow is soft. Water available at UBL and on step above UBL in isolated pockets. We stayed first night on step above UBL and had some gusts of wind at night, but nothing serious. Thermometer inside tent read -5C at the lowest.
Started summit attempt at 630AM, snow nice and crusty for easy walk with crampons. Snow up shoot was in great condition with only bare spots near notch. Final 400 was well covered in snow except for one ledge which was the most difficult to move over. Once over this step, there are good steps to the final ledge. Made it to the top by 1100AM. Cold and windy on the peak, but great views and deep dark blue sky. Easy Walk Off had good steps cut in for an easy return.
There were people camped at Iceberg Lake and we could see footsteps to the lake from the shoot, but not sure if water was available, it looked like they were trying though.
Slid down most of shoot to Iceberg Lake. Snow softened up on our way down. From the bottom of the shoot and to the step down from Iceberg Lake the snow was so soft that we were postholing to our waist every fourth step. Once down this, the snow got marginally better, but still soft. We packed up our gear and headed to UBL where we slid down most of the way, we also slid down most of the way to LBL. The snow was soft enough that we never picked up too much speed sliding. We were back to the car by 500PM and headed to get some pizza.
Other Note: On our way up the E Ledges, there is a log that is lodged in one of the rocks that you have to climb over. On our way down, this had been removed.
