RMNP conditions

Any updates? I'm hoping to do Spearhead on my birthday/the summer solstice (6/21). But I'm starting to get a little anxious that it's STILL going to be nasty and snowy up there...

My buddy hiked into Black Lake yesterday (6/14). Sounds like there's pretty significant snowpack in the basin still. He also said there was a good amount of snow and seepage on the Spearhead still. We're trying for it in a couple weeks.

I climbed the north ridge on the Spearhead on friday. There is still significant snow through the blowdown between Mills Lake and Black lake, and a good bit of snow travel up the gully above Black. The bivy area is wet but manageable, with large sections that are snow free. We camped in a wind sheltered bivy, on dry rock.

More snow travel is required to get up to the base of the wall. There are small patches of snow and seepage down from middle earth, and the eye, but otherwise the wall was fairly dry. The north ridge was holding some bits of snow, but its easy to get around them. I think Sykes and the Barb would go fine. It looked like there was some good seepage down the first pitch of Sykes from the snow on middle earth, and there is definitely a little snow up under the roof. The stuff on the left (Spear me, All too obvious, etc) would be difficult and wet, especially down low.

The descent is definitely the crux right now without crampons. The decent gully is filled with snow. You can descend the dry rib in between the 2nd and 3rd gully almost all the way, and then rappel or downclimb the last 200 feet of 50 degree snow. The snow was soft, and I had no problem downsoloing it in my approach shoes, but I feel pretty comfortable on that kind of terrain. If you don't feel solid on snow, it might be a bit exciting. A light axe would give you some comfort both on the approach and the descent. The rock didn't feel any more loose than it always does up there.

I climbed with two fairly new climbers. They had limited snow travel experience. We didn't bring traction or axes, and they did fine. You have to be a bit tougher than normal. Its a longer day with the snow and wet, but it certainly isn't especially dangerous or difficult for a competent team, moving efficiently.

Bring extra socks, and maybe some webbing to rig a rappel for the gully. It feels like early season still up there, but its kind of nice to have the whole place to yourself.

Oh, and we met a team coming down from Petit. They reported little sustained snow on the approach to Petit, and dry conditions on the route. Not first hand, but I believe it. That route seems to dry out pretty fast, and the approach gets a lot of sun. Probably still some snow to deal with, but it sounds like a reasonable alternative if the snow on the spearhead seems like a pain to you.

Climbed the petit yesterday. Lots of snow from the loch to sky pond but it was easy traveling as it was cold on saturday night. From sky pond, the approach was dry all the way to the petit. From the base of the petit, we had to climb less than 5 feet of snow to dry rock. We brought ice axes and never had to use them.

Have fun out there!

Climbed the petit yesterday. Lots of snow from the loch to sky pond but it was easy traveling as it was cold on saturday night. From sky pond, the approach was dry all the way to the petit. From the base of the petit, we had to climb less than 5 feet of snow to dry rock. We brought ice axes and never had to use them.

Have fun out there!