thanks, i'm heading up friday, and will arrive about 4-5PM. not sure whether to spend the night at the portal or head up to LBS in low light. If i'm on the ledges, i might just stay at the portal so as to not tackle them at dusk
On the otherhand if you can jump strait on the trail friday you will catch the ledges when they are still warmed by the sun and with melt water. If you leave too early the next morning you may find them to be icy. Though early morning saturday the snow pack may be denser. Just more to think about, really its kind of a toss up.
I used the snow for the first time last Saturday. It was fairly good on the way up and a few big postholes on the way down. I didn't think either route was clearly better than the other.
