Snow conditions

• 5/23 – I climbed SEWS via south arete Sunday. Solid snow coverage on the entire approach. Skis work great. A little snow on route in the chimney sections and gully near the summit, but almost all the climbing was dry.
• 5/23 – Blue lake approach snow covered but doable with approach shoes (would recommend traction…lessons I’ll need to relearn every season apparently).
• 5/16 – AJ Fisher climbed the SouthWest rib last Sunday (no additional info)

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Weather

Snowing ~2″ Thursday night… then Friday is partly cloudy and Saturday is fully sunny…

Sunday at base of climb (6,800 ft): Mostly sunny, high of 54, 6 mph winds, 29 degrees at 4am, 34 at 7am, 45 at 10am, 52 at 1pm.

Monday at base of climb (6,800 ft): Mostly sunny, high of 58, 9mph winds, 33 degrees at 4am, 37 at 7am, 49 at 10am, 56 at 1pm

Risks: The 2″ of new snow Thursday night could make the route wet, not sure it’ll all melt Saturday in time for climbing Sunday… plus there could be some snow left on the route making it wet… the NEWS route is pretty north-facing.

Itinerary

Saturday

• 2:00 PM – Drive out
• 6:00 PM – Set up camp at either Klipchuck Campground or Mazama

Sunday

Weather forecast at base of climb: Mostly sunny, high of 54

• 4:00 AM – Drive to Blue Lake TH
• 4:30 AM – Start hiking (2.5 miles, 2,000 ft gain, all snow, 1.5 hours)
• 6:00 AM – At base