Hobbitling
New member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2008
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Trail conditions
The road to the weld trail is pretty icey. Once off the road the trail is well broken until the upper altitudes near the summit of Pyramid, where the footprints stray a bit from the blazed trail for a few minutes. The summit of Pyramid is mixed ice and bare rock and a few sections were tricky. The col between Pyramid and Gothics is loose corn snow and powder, making parts of the descent a little "slidey". The summit ridge of Gothics has a sharp, well consolidated, non overhanging knife edge with a nicely packed trail right along the ridge about 4 feet wide. Picture perfect, like walking on a sidewalk in the sky. probably not much fun in wind. A few spots on the descent along the shoulder of Armstrong are a bit sketchy, especially the ladders, and a few narrow spots with steep, exposed dropoffs to the right. The area right above beaver meadow falls is very icey and I had to use crampons for the descent. We partly cleared the ladder, but it's icey.
Crampons recommended, and you may actually get some use out of that ice axe if you bring it. Wish I'd had one.
The road to the weld trail is pretty icey. Once off the road the trail is well broken until the upper altitudes near the summit of Pyramid, where the footprints stray a bit from the blazed trail for a few minutes. The summit of Pyramid is mixed ice and bare rock and a few sections were tricky. The col between Pyramid and Gothics is loose corn snow and powder, making parts of the descent a little "slidey". The summit ridge of Gothics has a sharp, well consolidated, non overhanging knife edge with a nicely packed trail right along the ridge about 4 feet wide. Picture perfect, like walking on a sidewalk in the sky. probably not much fun in wind. A few spots on the descent along the shoulder of Armstrong are a bit sketchy, especially the ladders, and a few narrow spots with steep, exposed dropoffs to the right. The area right above beaver meadow falls is very icey and I had to use crampons for the descent. We partly cleared the ladder, but it's icey.
Crampons recommended, and you may actually get some use out of that ice axe if you bring it. Wish I'd had one.
