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I was wondering if anyone knows what the snow conditions are like from the standard Longs Peak trailhead to Mt Lady Washington. The east face of Meeker looks really dry, so I'm guessing the east face of Mt. Lady Washington might be fairly dry as well. With the unstable snowpack situation I wanted to see if anyone had firsthand knowledge of avalanche risk in the area. I'm also wondering whether I'll need snowshoes. Thanks in advance for your help.

I saw the east side of MLW from a distance yesterday and it looked awfully dry. We were on Longs a few weeks ago and did not need snowshoes at all due to a nicely packed trail. I presume it's pretty much the same seeing as how much traffic the standard trail receives.

I hiked up to timberline yesterday, and as (almost) always, the trail is well packed. The Longs trail and the Glacier Gorge trails to Mills and the Loch are the most reliably packed in the Park. I've never used snowshoes on either.

If you don't mind meandering a bit, I'm sure you could get up Lady Wash from just above Chasm Junction without stepping in ANY snow

I was up there on Saturday, the snow is packed down from the trailhead to treeline, I didn't need snowshoes. There's a path up the standard trail but also a more direct one that cuts the switchbacks and goes straight uphill, then up a stream, rejoining the trail at treeline. That shortcut makes for a quick descent (though you end up walking on top of the frozen stream in a few places).

There's hardly any snow on the trail above treeline and the east ridge of MLW is bare rock.

I didn't see any snow conditions that concerned me, on the main trail. I tried a side trip towards chasm lake but found one slope I wasn't sure about.

that's good news. I hope to be up there thurs or Friday this week.

Speaking of Mt. Lady, does anyone know the conditions for Martha Couloir, or for that matter, Dreamweaver? I usually wouldn't consider those routes this time of year, but it's been so dry, it seems possible. Or has it been too cold for them to even form up as ice?

IkeB wrote:that's good news. I hope to be up there thurs or Friday this week.

IkeB would you kindly post conditions given storm coming in. Have my eye on MLW (again ) for Sat. or Sunday. Thanks!

It was dry yesterday. Micro spikes helpful but not needed. I might be up there again Thursday and can update again.

Eph 2 5 wrote:I was wondering if anyone knows what the snow conditions are like from the standard Longs Peak trailhead to Mt Lady Washington.

We were just up at Martha couloir yesterday. There is very little snow up on Mt lady Washington. In my opinion no avalanche danger at all. Definitely no snowshoes required.

FullertonImages wrote:Speaking of Mt. Lady, does anyone know the conditions for Martha Couloir, or for that matter, Dreamweaver?

Conditions on Martha were pretty bad. Definitely not in. We went up about not even a full pull pitch into the couloir proper before we were facing full blown mixed climbing. If you are anticipating a snow climb with a few moves of mixed climbing...it is just the opposite.. a mixed climbing route with just a few stretches of snow.

Dreamweaver looked a little better but not much. With Martha there is virtually no snow, with Dreamweaver there is at least a little snow. Maybe enough to make a run.

However, Flying Dutchman looked pretty good actually. The initial snow skirt at the bottom was not really there, but once you got into the couloir itself, the snow looked pretty solid and consistent the entire way until you would reach the top. Not as fat as other years but enough to make it work. The lean snow looked like it would make the crux at the top even more challenging than normal, but It seemed like it was in decent shape in comparison to Martha for sure. Of the 3, it definitely looked the most promising.

Thanks, VIP!

I'm most interested in ice anyways. I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part. Few more months...

I'm wondering if anyone knows what the snow conditions are like for Mt. Lady Washington from the Longs Peak TH after the recent snow. I'm wondering if snowshoes are needed (I'm guessing "yes") and whether there's any avy danger like wind loading on the east side of the mountain?. Thanks for your help.

I was up to the turn off to the Battle Mountain campground yesterday. No need (never any need) for snowshoes up to there and no reason to bother with them above timberline. No avy danger on the east side of Lady Washington, that's pretty much a "never", also.

JimS