RMNP alpine rock conditions?

My friend and I climbed Syke's Sickle on Spearhead yesterday. Approach and descent were in excellent condition (microspikes friendly snowpack). The rock was somewhat wet. A lot of small dihedrals had snow in them and water was leaking from under many overlaps. All routes leading to the first ledge were soaked. Fortunately the crux sections on the route were dry. 

Spearhead 6/26 - snow patches on most ledges 1/3 up the cliff - probably from last weekend's snow. Quite a bit of seeping even higher up.

A look up from the top of the tower on middle earth

Syke's sickle from the top of pitch 3. 1st pitch was wet, pitches 4&5 had some snow/wet spots that could be avoided with a few exceptions. Roof pitch 6 had a wet start, but dry crux.

That's a super fun route....

boris itin wrote: My friend and I climbed Syke's Sickle on Spearhead yesterday. Approach and descent were in excellent condition (microspikes friendly snowpack). The rock was somewhat wet. A lot of small dihedrals had snow in them and water was leaking from under many overlaps. All routes leading to the first ledge were soaked. Fortunately the crux sections on the route were dry. 

Worth lugging up the ski's for any of the approach/descents in the area?

Choss Connoisseur wrote:

Worth lugging up the ski's for any of the approach/descents in the area?

I imagine that depends on how good a skier you are.

I climbed the saber Thursday and it was bone dry looks like summer might have actually showed up.

Kirtis Courkamp wrote: I climbed the saber Thursday and it was bone dry looks like summer might have actually showed up.

Thank you thank you thank you. I was wondering how the Petite looked after the recentish precip. Going up there soon

Kirtis Courkamp wrote: I climbed the saber Thursday and it was bone dry looks like summer might have actually showed up.

Hey Kirtis! We were the party on the petite. Good day up there yesterday

There is still lots of snow on the approach. Totally doable in just approach shoes but I hate snow and sure wish I had mirco spikes and maybe even some trekking poles. My buddy who is way more into Alpine was laughing at me while cruising in Nikes. YMMV

Thomas Gilmore wrote:

Hey Kirtis! We were the party on the petite. Good day up there yesterday

There is still lots of snow on the approach. Totally doable in just approach shoes but I hate snow and sure wish I had mirco spikes and maybe even some trekking poles. My buddy who is way more into Alpine was laughing at me while cruising in Nikes. YMMV

Time car to car?

Will McKay wrote:

Brian, I was just up there yesterday and it's pretty snowy along most ridge lines. Went up to S. Arapaho & encountered a few sections of two foot deep snow along the ridge. Lots of Cornices still hanging around.

Did you go up Skywalker or the standard route?

It took me and my partner 1.5 hr to the base of the saber from Bear lake, glacier gorge lot was closed for paving. 

Nick Quesnel wrote:

Did you go up Skywalker or the standard route?

Went up the standard route, though Skywalker was still in.

Choss Connoisseur wrote:

Worth lugging up the ski's for any of the approach/descents in the area?

To answer my own question, no. Unless you’re looking to hit those bad ass couloirs in the sky pond area! 

Echoing others comments, micro spikes would’ve been nice, but not necessary. Didn’t posthole at all

How does the North Ridge of Spearhead look? Is it still wet? 

• Has anyone done the approach up to the Gash recently? Hoping to get on sharkstooth soon

Was on the Petit on Saturday. So I can't speak to the exact conditions, snow begins a few hundred feet after the trail split for Andrew's Glacier and Sky Pond. No post holing even at mid day (but that trail also gets more traffic.) The trail was pretty icy, but I think that is again due to the heavy foot traffic. Micro spikes could be nice, but definitely not necessary.

Maybe someone else has been up the gash itself with better info?

Charlie Martz wrote: Was on the Petit on Saturday. So I can't speak to the exact conditions, snow begins a few hundred feet after the trail split for Andrew's Glacier and Sky Pond. No post holing even at mid day (but that trail also gets more traffic.) The trail was pretty icy, but I think that is again due to the heavy foot traffic. Micro spikes could be nice, but definitely not necessary.

Maybe someone else has been up the gash itself with better info?

Yea I was on the petite last Tuesday after attempting it the Wednesday before that, the snow seemed to be melting pretty quick, took spikes both times. However I wasnt able to get a chance to check out Andrew's creek/gash as I'd hoped to. How was the petite? When we climbed it the first pitch was pretty wet, almost a stream in some spots, and so were the chimney pitches. The p5 fingercrack was wet as well, although the corner was dry. Rest of the route was pretty dry. Was it dry on Sat? I'm wondering if was just the snowfall from the weekend prior melting off

The chimney was a bit damp in spots, but they were easy enough to avoid by mostly face climbing the left side. The rest of the route was bone dry. There's still lots of moving water as the couloirs melt, and there is one section of the sky pond trail that has a very thin snow bridge travelling directly over quick water in a steep, rocky section. hopefully whichever unfortunate hiker/climber ends up dunking has good waterproofing, or an extra set of socks.

Anyone climb on the ships prow yet this season?

Anybody have info on the Chasm View Wall and Camel descent?