County Rd 306 totally dry and good to go for 2WD vehicles. Sheriff's office says it's plowed to Denny Creek TH. Left Avalanche TH at 4am. Started on spikes and switched to shoes when I hit powder, following a very faint, ghostly track. Lost it sometime before sunrise and just stayed on a northern heading, breaking trail on a sort of wonky but fun route up the valley rim to the East Ridge just west of the saddle where the summer route comes out. However, the route finding and trail breaking took me 5 hours to gain the ridge, and wore me out pretty good which caught up to me later. Not much snow or on the ridge. I used microspikes all the way (I don't mind beating them up on the rocks but I saw people in just boots). Some big wind gusts made the ascent difficult (glad I had full face coverage) but it calmed down before I topped out at 1:15pm, totally gassed. A quick descent, following the summer route this time, and I was back at the TH just after a pretty sunset. This kicked my butt. That ridge just seems to go on and on and is pretty unforgiving. Not a route for the faint of heart or beginners, but a great climb!
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