2600fromatari wrote:No traction devices needed until the Traverse. Shin to knee deep postholing snow after that. We did NOT take the usual trail. We went directly up the gulley below Notch 1(2?) and walked from the top along the Desert View "trail" back down to the tram. A friend walked towards Grubb's Notch and did not see any tracks. I'm surprised that after 2 weeks of clear weather that no one/group has beaten a trail in. Please don't go up without any traction device, you can definitely leave snow shoes at home.
Thanks for your report, I typically hit the C2C annually and always bring an ice axe, mountaineering boots, crampons, spikes in addition to my 10 essentials. I'm a Mountaineer from the PNW and have climbed all the volcanoes in WA, so I have some experience with technical hiking/climbing. The conditions after the traverse sound treacherous this year, especially around the ice chutes, requiring some skill. You mention to leave snowshoes at home, I've been going back and forth on bringing or not bringing, just wanted to get your two cents on that. You mentioned ok to leave leave them at home.
Last February I plowed through this section and to the top only using microspikes, I did post hole but it was not too bad. This year of course is a different animal with all the snow. I do see 3 inches of new snow in forecast this week. I would not try my attempt until later next week, so it looks milder and any fresh snow should melt or turn into ice as we head into next week.
Also, the gps track I have takes me the normal route, you mentioned that you went up the gulley at 1,2. Any pointers on location of this route on map? Gps track?
Thanks for your input.