Anyone on the Armadillo this year?

Heading to Baxter next weekend to climb Armadillo. Anyone been up there in the past few weeks/ months? just wondering what the approach/ bushwack is looking like this year and if there have been any significant changes to the route re: rockfalls and such.
Cheers

I haven't been in the south basin this season but my buddy was on the Armadillo not to long ago. He said there wasn't any significant route changes due to the issues you mentioned above. Have fun up there!

Climbed it this year. The MP description was accurate. I made a kind of ridiculous PDF with notes on the climb and approach for some friends if you want it.

Do you mind posting that PDF here or sending me a DM with it? Sounds like it could be quite useful for figuring out the nasty approach. I'm headed up there the first weekend of October to climb the Armidillo.

Did it with Blakemore...Did the Wind in the Willows, same approach, the crux is really finding the right gully after the lake and keeping it with eye sight...

Charlie P wrote:Do you mind posting that PDF here or sending me a DM with it? Sounds like it could be quite useful for figuring out the nasty approach. I'm headed up there the first weekend of October to climb the Armidillo.

I uploaded it to google drive. I'll leave it there for a few days so you can download it. I made use of many people's photos that I found on MP or the internet. Sorry for the lack of attribution, if anyone has an objection I will remove it immediately Here is the description I wrote for my friend which repeats some of the beta given in the MP route description. I'm a newbie climber so you know, caveat emptor,your mileage may vary and all of that. DESCRIPTION After you leave the ranger station at chimney pond, hike around the right side of the pond and up the streambed. This was slick in spots and could be troublesome after rain. There are a couple of possible wrong turns (tributaries) but you're generally working towards the headwall. You climb up a short talus slope to the base of the headwall. We started unroped up the headwall initially but decided it would be better to rope up and did so at a stance with a pin midway up the route. At some point the easiest thing seemed to be to work left on 3rd/4th class terrain and establish a belay under the steepest part of the headwall. We tried a couple ways up here and ended up going right around a prominent rock that divides the headwall, it may have been easier to go left (indicated in the pdf). It is probably two pitches if you are roped up for the whole thing. One of the other MP users indicates a right hand approach up the headwall which we did not try. Once above the headwall, just pick whatever seems easiest to get into the right leaning dike. Our goal was to stay on 3rd/4th class terrain so it was a mixture of scrambling and bushwhacking through the easiest looking bits. Once in the dike you just keep going up (scramble) until the two grassy ledges are obvious on your left. We followed an obvious climber trail on the 2nd ledge to the base of the climb. We roped up to hop over a block in the middle of the ledge, but you could easily not do that too...it just looks scary. After that follow the other notes on MP for the climb. Have fun!  

This is awesome, Thanks!