East Ridge Direct 

Thanks for posting this. I have been meaning to do this route for a while now. Dave Cooper gives a great description of the route as a summer climb in his book 50 Classic Colorado Scrambles, I believe the pitch climbing out of the notch is rated 5.2 under less serious conditions (I don't know for sure as I have not actually climbed the route though). Did you guys ski in or snowshoe? I have been ski touring up there alot this winter and wondered what the route would be like in winter conditions. Thanks again for the info.
Kirk

Paul Gagner and I did this route in early January. We did three long pitches on the northeast buttress, including the lowest rock band. We thought it was great fun, with the bonus that you can easily avoid any potential avalanche danger. It's a cold place, though! See more photos at:

themountainworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/winter-jollies.html

Yeah thanks for the tip Dougald, your blog is where I learned of this route. It was a big full-on day for sure. The damned wind never ceased!

Kirk, we snowshoed in and it was an easy approach. The climb outta the notch, while short, was definitely harder than 5.2 IMHO. I climbed it with hands in wet liner gloves and wet mountaineering boots so I don't know how to rate it.

I put up a TR on my blog, just click my profile, the link is in there.

I was up there the same day. I was touring in the trees off the road at about 3-3:30. I heard some people talking on the road on my way in, I am wondering if that was you? It was a great day to be out and about. The TR was pretty cool, nice pictures!
Kirk

At 3/3:30 we were just nearing the summit, so it wasn't us.

Notes apply to headwall variation:
Head straight to the Loch then to the lake above it. If you try to cut up the hill early, you'll just have to give back the elevation you gained and might fall in some tree wells to your partner's amusement. If you wish to protect this with even sort of reasonable runouts, bring lots of small gear and some pitons. A #1 C4 was the biggest we used along with a full set of C3s (and little nuts of course). Protecting the top headwall pitch without pins is well, really really hard. It's good fun in winter with all the turf sections and scattered ice patches though. One ice tool is handy and we used crampons. We did another variation on the headwall, starting far right to get some rock pro above a suspect snow band, P2 climbed a very steep narrow gully and P3 probably joined somewhere near the drawings on the beta photos at the top out spot. Choose your own alpine adventure and have fun!

Climbed the ridge with the direct start yesterday. The direct start really adds to the route and I highly recommend it. Pick your route on the face....anything goes. Climbing is no harder than 5.4 - 5.5 with very solid rock, but very run out. Only one peice of pro in each pitch. The rest of the ridge was great climing. Climb out of notch I'd say is 5.4, very positive holds and very short. Exposure might make it feel harder. Amazing route. Can't belive I just heard about this thing. Highly recommend!

Climbed this route yesterday, Nov, 20. Snowshoes would make the approach much easier. While the road appears to be fairly clear, you'll wish you brought the snowshoes when you start post-holing for the last mile. Also, the snow on the ridge line is still soft and fairly insecure. With the early winter conditions, it took just under 10 hours car to car. I highly recommend this route as a more technical and less crowded alternative to the popular climbs in the area. Also a lot of ski potential near Loch Lomond.

The road to Loch Lomond is open all the way for those fortunate to have high-clearance vehicles and despite what the sign before the second gate says. I like the route better with snow, but the views are still spectacular later in the season.