Conditions in the Cascades

I'll be in the Cascades and wondering what the snow pack is like around Boston Basin (planning on Forbidden Peak West Ridge) as well as around Washington Pass area (Becky Route, South Early Winter spire) and Mt. Goode.

Not planning on bringing any snow gear and wondering if those objectives are reachable this time of year.

Any other beta appreciated.

Thanks

The snow is non-existent en route to Liberty Bell / SEWS, so no worries on that front.

I would imagine you'd want crampons and an ax for Boston Basin.

Ask the local experts (give 'em a call):

ncmountainguides.com/

Was in Boston basin two days ago. The couloir up to forbidden is totally out of shape. Additionally, there is no snow in the basin below torment, forbidden or below the quien sabe glacier. That being said, it still looked like climbers were accessing forbidden via catscracth.

A friend was up at Goode over the weekend, they did have to end run some crevasses but it was pretty easy going.

If you go up catscratch gully on Forbidden you could just bring your approach shoes for the whole route. You really only need mtn boots in the couloir.

Went up the west ridge of forbidden last week (Wednesday 08/17). As others have said the col is totally out, but crampons and an ice axe were useful for ascending the snow up to cat scratch. It was super warm this past weekend, though, and I imagine the snowfield is getting mighty thin at this point. Even during our descent the waterfalls coming down were pounding and the stream crossings out of Boston Basin were significantly higher.