Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/18/2018, By: nomad_games
Info: 4wd road is bone dry up to the towers and a bit past that, except maybe 4 or 5 spots with small amounts of snow. Trail is half dry, half covered in mushy snow. The first Tigger couloir on the standard route is very sketchy. 2-4 inch slab on top of very loose crystals. Steps were propagating cracks. There were rollerballs and small chunks of ice falling from higher in the couloir. Strongly suggest taking the ridge over Tigger, or only doing the standard route when it's well below freezing, but judge for yourself. Supposed to snow tomorrow night followed by more warm temps, so the avalanche conditions will probably get worse for the weekend. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/15/2018, By: MichaelWG
Info: Princeton was excellent today - this is a great time to hike it.

The road is bone dry up to the Towers, save for a few patches of snow that almost aren't even worth mentioning. Pretty much any 4WD should be able to make it up to there (saw at least one truck there), as well as the next 50-100 yards or so to the rest of the pullouts/campsites. Literally right after that, the big snow drifts start.

There are maybe 10 snow drifts covering the trail on the way to the turn-off for the East Slopes trail, most relatively flat and slushy all day, so easy to walk across.

I ended up taking the East Slopes and the trail was well packed snow most of the way. Gaining the ridge up to Princeton was tricky because most people seemed to have taken the route over Tigger, so I had to break fresh boot steps in a lot of places while the snow was still hard. Still not a big deal, though.

Ridge up to the summit is great, minimal snow. Barely any wind on the summit too, could have comfortably hung around for an hour if I had the time. Overall bluebird day. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/16/2018, By: sebowen
Info: Hiked on April 15, 2018

With a truck or high clearance vehicle you can make it all the way to the radio towers, that's where we started. Hike was easy up until the split up to the ridge or standard route. We started on the standard route but then decided against it due to the conditions of the couliers across the route. Scrambled up to Tigger Peak which was very difficult and not recommended. Once on Tigger the hike was a bit easier, other than the large elevation gain for the last bit. Summit was amazing, perfect views all around. No wind. Spent 30 min - 1 hour up there before heading down. Took the standard route back to save time but was sketchy.

I recommend Spikes at least but snowshoes across the standard route could help. Trekking Poles or an axe would be good too since there are parts of slick snow and no rocks to hold on to.

Beautiful Hike and happy to knock this one off the list 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/2/2018, By: rgarriott
Info: Started at the parking lot. Road was dry with only a few snow patches on the road once you reach the towers. The trail on the north side of Tigger was boot-packed, but micro spikes would help. I climbed up around a couple of areas; an axe would've been helpful. Ridge to summit was dry. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/13/2018, By: desertdog
Info: Long day, but great conditions for this time of year. We drove to the winter closure sign. No real snow until after the radio towers, but that was boot packed. Snowshoes were not needed. We did the summer trail on the ascent and Tigger descent. On the way up, there were a couple snow fields we worked around to play it safe. Once on the ridge almost no snow the whole way to the summit. The climb down Tigger's ridge was a boulder hoping, knee crunching sufferfest. No snow on Tigger. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 2/12/2018, By: lfishsays
Info: About 6-8" fell in the storm on Saturday. I turned back at 11K right past the towers and partners turned back around 12,800'. Slopes off Tigger are starting to get pretty loaded, so the safe option now would be to go over Tigger and take the ridge. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 2/7/2018, By: duffpe
Info: Started 8:00am from just above lower lot.
Towers by 9:00am. Traverse below Tigger by 10:00am. Summit by 12:00pm. Back to car by 2:30pm.
Small amount of snow on road portion. Dry from road to below Tigger. Beginning was snowed but pictures from route description help greatly to find turn! No snow on Tigger so ok to cross, lots of hard pack (spikes make your day much happier here). from ridge to summit intermittent snow patches, my dog and I lost/found the trail about 100 times and slogged across a lot of talus and snow. Gaiters or snowshoes not needed. Beautiful day and happy to not have to traverse Tigger! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 2/3/2018, By: dwoodward13
Info: Nearly totally dry to the antennas. Avoidable snow on the road to treeline. From treeline to about 12250 there is almost no snow. From there to thru the switchbacks there is hard windblown snow covering most of the trial, I used spikes here but you could get my without. The avy slopes off Tigger are almost entirely without snow so no issue. Switchbacks to summit are mostly dry.

Basically it's fall out there...you could easily get by in waterproof trail runners, spikes and gaiters. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/16/2018, By: Santanoni
Info: Was surprised by the lack of snow. The road is covered in plenty of spots, but it was hard pack with ice below or drifted, so it was easily walkable. Could use traction, I mostly did not.
I was expecting to need to use the route over tigger to avoid avy chutes. Slope was almost bare though, so used trail. One small gully with snow, I did a few tests and crossed. You should make your own decision, but you can also skirt above which I did one way. Rest of route is just rock with snow in between, not even snow fields. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/3/2018, By: DavidEStaunton
Info: There are ice/snow patches most of the way up the road. When you make the turnoff
for the Princeton trail, it is covered with snow. I missed it. I made a small cairn to mark the turnoff. You will need micro spikes to get up the peak. have fun. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 12/30/2017, By: Vimana Aircraft
Info: The road was easily hiked with no snowshoes as was the rest of the mountain! Did the south west ridge of Tigger Peak from Tigger the standard route on Princeton, but staying mostly Ridge proper. The entire ridge is wind blown with very little snow coverage on the east side. I descended the standard route due to the minimal snow coverage! The trail was fairly Icey so crampons were used for my descent to just before the road! Awesome day up there with heavy gusts :-)!!!!!!! 

Route: SW Ridge
Posted On: 12/10/2017, By: rivrrapids
Info: Summitted from Grouse Canyon. Route mostly clear of snow. Post-holed only once to knee. Rest of snow encountered was firm and not deep. Lot of the snow was avoidable. Didn't need axe or traction. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 12/4/2017, By: mikefromcraig
Info: We drove about 0.7 miles up from the lower TH where there is a small pullout on the left just 40 feet below the sign that says not to use the road after Dec. 1.

I put my microspikes on around 10,000'. You'd be fine waiting until the right-hand turn off the road at 11,800 to put them on but you definitely want them on the long traverse. I did take them off about 1/3 mile from the summit and then put them back on at the same point on the way down.

Trail is in amazing, hardpack condition for the first half of the traverse. After that it's still pretty good but did occasionally posthole 12". Do not bring flotation.

It was supposed to snow Sunday night and Monday but it looks like it didn't so this still might be in excellent condition even until possibly the weekend of the 9th. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/30/2017, By: wisedog1
Info: Upper trailhead has icy spots that would make backing down this terrifying so don't start up unless you are confident you will make it up, my stock 4runner was fine. Trail is mostly packed and icy, micro-spikes did great. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/26/2017, By: Dave Mason
Info: Made it to the radio towers in a stock Tacoma but there is a sign posted indicating that the road beyond the lower parking area will be closed on December 1st. The trail is in good condition and is hard pack all the way. No need for anything beyond micro-spikes. No problem traversing across the north face of Tigger, not much snow above the trail.