This was a Sunday hike, and there were two cars in the parking lot, but I tracks indicated folks went up the trail and continued via Lend-A-Hand.
The trail had some snow before the first crossing. In between, the trail cleared a bit, mostly, it seems, due to a change in aspect that allowed more direct sunlight to hit the trail. I was up to the second crossing around 7:30am, and it was extremely iced over and very gnarly. Thick ice on some rocks, and black ice on the rest. Above the second crossing, the trail was almost entirely covered in either snow or long stretches of very slick ice.
The summit was bare ground, and conditions were very windy.
On the way down, the top crossing, now at about 8:30am, had mostly cleared of ice! Really quite amazing how quickly the conditions changed, and while above the stream there was ice and snow, below was mostly clear until below the bottom crossing, which again saw snow on a good chunk of the trail, some of it hiding extremely slick ice.
Poles and microspikes are essential! Or at least, there were on Sunday. Given a week of warm temps and lots of sun, and no freezing temps, trail conditions could change quickly, but as of yesterday, there was still a lot of ice on the trail, and very challenging without proper traction.
Brian
The trail had some snow before the first crossing. In between, the trail cleared a bit, mostly, it seems, due to a change in aspect that allowed more direct sunlight to hit the trail. I was up to the second crossing around 7:30am, and it was extremely iced over and very gnarly. Thick ice on some rocks, and black ice on the rest. Above the second crossing, the trail was almost entirely covered in either snow or long stretches of very slick ice.
The summit was bare ground, and conditions were very windy.
On the way down, the top crossing, now at about 8:30am, had mostly cleared of ice! Really quite amazing how quickly the conditions changed, and while above the stream there was ice and snow, below was mostly clear until below the bottom crossing, which again saw snow on a good chunk of the trail, some of it hiding extremely slick ice.
Poles and microspikes are essential! Or at least, there were on Sunday. Given a week of warm temps and lots of sun, and no freezing temps, trail conditions could change quickly, but as of yesterday, there was still a lot of ice on the trail, and very challenging without proper traction.
Brian
