Ascended to the White Ridge/Sherman saddle via White ridge south slope, descended via Sherman south slopes. Tried planning out a route that avoided the Sherman/Sheridan saddle and the snowfields in the basin but the White Ridge slopes ended up being a lot chossier than anticipated. First time out in this area and it was still a great day out!
I parked at the “Park here or else you'll get stuck” sign, road just had very minor patches of snow and ice until then. Looks like someone attempted to keep going and did in fact get stuck 30 ft in or so. Road has an established boot pack up thru to the basin. The snowfields in the basin had a firm windblown crust for the most part with more postholing among the willows. Much of the ridges and hills in the basin were bare. The White Ridge south slope is completely scree and gets pretty loose at times. Had fun climbing up but I would have otherwise preferred to stay more in the basin crossing the snowfields and snaking along the small hills and ridges directly to Sherman's south slope. Snow near summit has a firm windblown crust. Winds were pretty constantly blowing towards the SE throughout the day and felt as forecast at 20-25 mph, hard to find shelter in the basin.
Looks like it'll snow 3 inches today and a few more on Mon. I figure these conditions should hold for the weekend with the consideration of this light fresh layer of snow on top of everything but who knows! My gf came along this time too and she summited with me, congrats P!
       
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