7/22/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: cougar Info: Did the circuit starting with Traver, and adding on Wheeler. Mostly snow free, but had to cross a couple short firm fields, one ascending from the lake, and on descent from Wheeler in the basin above the lake. Road is awful, worse than Como but fortunately shorter and less steep. half of it is a river full of rocks and water, puddles with bypasses remain, and those are pretty developed. |
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7/15/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 7/15/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: Climbed Travers - McNamee - Clinton - Wheeler today! Entirely snow free on Clintons main route. We did see someone today that climbed up the snowfield to Clintons summit, which is still in. |
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6/28/2023 Route: South Slope Posted On: 6/30/2023, By: Istoodupthere Info: Didnt summit. Got the dreaded we need your signature email from work and had to cut my plans short. In a nutshell Id hold off doing this peak for a few weeks. A couple dozen areas of the 4wd road were either a river or a pond where you had to get into the willows to get around. There are use trails through most of these areas. Near the end of the 4wd road, the road becomes a true river. The stream draining Wheeler Lake also joins here and was impassable due to it being a waterfall. I had to climb directly up the hill to wheeler lake from here. Dont get too close to the waterfall as its all willows. Easier to head up a hundred yards or so before. In order to cross the stream near the lake, I had to cross a sketchy snow bridge that is probably already gone. If so, there is no way to get through this obstacle without getting wet. The trail after the old parking area is buried in snow. I walked along the edge of the lake a bit and decided to go straight up the hill to the left. It was a 40+ Degree snow climb on wet but supportive snow. I was able to do it with poles and no crampons but I wouldnt suggest. I was in too much of a rush to put on spikes. This section was about 50 yards in order to get to some solid rock. Did some class 2+ scrambling for awhile to about 12,500 until I realized it was just taking too long and so I turned around. On the way down a moose popped up from the willows around 11,500. Definitely a moosey area |
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6/21/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 6/21/2023, By: -wren- Info: happy solstice! climbed wheeler, clinton, mcnamee and traver today from montgomery reservoir. gist: still a lot of snow, but you can get by with just an ice ax and maybe spikes. 4wd road is very wet. lots of standing water, some spots that could be called small ponds, and higher up there are some sections that are flowing quickly with 4-6 inch depth. Usually there are bypasses but not the best approach for keeping your feet dry, and worse on the way back. One stretch a dozen or so meters long near the final switchbacks has become a segment of another major stream and has 2 feet of whitewater ripping through it. Then a few 50-100 ft patches of snow on the last switchbacks (mostly supportive even at 10-11 am on a warm sunny day) fully prevent vehicle access to wheeler lake. From wheeler lake to the ridgeline you will be on snow at least half the time, and that's if you zigzag your way up on dry patches. Could also definitely climb snow the whole way if desired. (Skiers, this whole area is very much in still...lots of pretty couloirs and bowls) I climbed the ridge direct to wheeler which was nearly 100% snow free and has some fun class 4 bits. The standard route you will still definitely want traction for as most of the gullies between rock ribs had plenty of snow leading all the way down into the opposite basin. Highly recommend just sticking to the ridge, fun route. Over to the other 3 peaks there's plenty of snow (70-80% along obvious route) and most likely some postholing unless you start very early. Postholed a couple dozen times but nothing too enraging. A day with no freeze would be quite miserable up there. Still some huge cornices in spots going to clinton and mcnamee that might kill you if they failed while you were standing on them, so give them room to breathe! Descent from traver was mostly dry until the final 300-400 feet of descent back to wheeler lake. Couple of safe options for glissading but i just cherrypicked a few dry grass ledges to get most of the way down. Postholed quite a bit from here back to the car on most of the snow I encountered, but lots was still supportive and definitely not worth bringing snowshoes. Never deep enough to strand someone. |
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6/10/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: cougar Info: didn't climb, but posting a current picture showing lots of snow on peak and basin as seen from North Star. Looks like it won''t be melted out until July. |
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6/10/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: _coloradical Info: Climbed on Saturday, 6/10/23. Road leading up to Wheeler Lake has a lot of run off still, flooded in sections, and lots of snow heading up into the basin. Once in the basin, I opted to climb Clinton first. It was a nice walk into the basin and a decent climb up Clinton's South Slopes. I used traction and an ice axe for this, ice axe wasn't necessary (a trekking pole will be fine). You can see some avalanche activity along the face between Clinton and McNamee. The ridge was lined with cornices but can all be bypasses on the west side of the ridge, same for the walk over to Traver. From Traver, the ridge had snow on it until about 13,000, and from there you could get by without it. The walk out wasn't too bad, lots of additional snow melt, and a river running down the road. Overall, nice day out. Total time car to car was just over 5 hours from Montgomery Reservoir. |
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5/20/2023 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 5/20/2023, By: stomblin7 Info: Approach hike is in rough shape. The road is patchy with snow the first mile or so and has 6 inches of standing water in places you cannot pass without getting off the road. Around 11,500 ft we officially put on snowshoes as snow on the road became continuous. Ascended SE couloir of Clinton. Snow was very wet and heavy in general, but we were able to kick some solid but deeper steps in (Crampons and axe). Very cool and fun little couloir. I put snowshoes back on at summit for the ridge. The snow within 5 ft of the rocks was deep with snowshoes. Kept a wider distance and hiked over to McNamee. Very pretty Ridge - very loaded with snow and solid cornices at the top. I kept snowshoes on till last 50 ft to summit of Traver, where I removed them to navigate the rocks better. Plunge stepped Travers ridge back to basin and wore snowshoes back to about a mile from the cars. Will upload more pics tonight |
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8/21/2022 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 8/21/2022, By: kwhit24 Info: The road had the typically puddles I've seen on other reports and there was also a lot of water running down it. With rain the night before the bypasses through the willows soaked us in the morning but they dried up by the time we came down. Most of the rock was slippery on the route up slowing since they were wet and covered in lichen. Weather started to roll in during the hike down and we made is back to the car just in time before the rain (11.45 mi; 3,301' gain; 5:54:39 total time) Start at TH 6:05am; Traver Peak 8:55am; McNamee Peak 9:10am; Clinton Peak 9:35am; Back to TH 12:00pm |
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7/3/2022 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 7/3/2022, By: dcsheldon Info: It was hard to keep my feet dry today. Up the 4WD road to Wheeler Lake there are a lot of large puddles with detours through willows. At the lake you run into snow along the shoreline. After climbing the gulley from the lake you'll run into 3 snow fields that aren't too hard to get through. I didn't use traction and didn't posthole. Spikes would have been useful. Once you are up in the basin it is really soggy with a lot of meltoff. You can mostly avoid the wet areas but easy to get feet wet if you wear trail runners like me. After climbing the south slope of Clinton everything was dry up high. There is no snow on the ridge trail from Clinton to Traver |
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5/5/2022 Route: South Slope Posted On: 5/7/2022, By: frigidridge Info: The trail/road up to the mine is dry. Afterwards there are soggy, deep patches of snow with a few ponds on the road. Snow near the mine is melting fast. At higher elevation a fresh 5 inches was sustained with gusting winds and no sunshine to melt it. Clinton's south face is rocky but not dry, with the snowpack being inconsistent. I put on snowshoes starting around treeline and pretty much needed them on for the entire rest of the day. |
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4/9/2022 Route: South Slope Posted On: 4/10/2022, By: funsizetiff Info: Wheeler Lake trail is gated at the winter closure by Montgomery Reservoir. Snow starts 0.1 miles beyond the winter gate. With some creativity, you can skin most of the road. Past the slope above Wheeler Lake, we took off the skis and booted across a rock section, then booted up snowfields to 13.3k where we were able to follow dry rock to the summit. We did not use microspikes or crampons, though some may find them useful. Summit descent is in right now - skiied down the ridge towards McNamee and chose a spot to drop into the bowl. The coverage in the bowl is excellent (no sharks), and showed no signs of instability. Clouds and wind kept things cool up high and the snow itself was firm. Down lower, the snow turned into corn. The road was slushy, hikers we encountered heading up the road in the afternoon were postholing without flotation. |
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3/27/2022 Route: South Slope of Traver Posted On: 3/27/2022, By: Geckser Info: Went up Clinton and friends from Fremont Pass. I was planning on following DadMike's winter route up Clinton but went my own way as to avoid trespassing on Climax Mine (as I am a scaredy cat). I ended up snowshoeing to 11,500 and booted up to the ridge from there on a rocky rib (sorry no skiing Amy). The route I took worked out quite well and would recommend it to the avalanche adverse given the current conditions out there. I followed the big basin (with snowshoes) until I found a proper route up to the ridge that avoided as much snow as possible. Snowshoeing through the basin was unpleasant with some deep postholing even with my snowshoes. I also heard some distressing wumphing from the snow so I made a very major effort to stay off any avy prone terrain. Additionally there was a big slide path down Mcname's southern face, pretty significant + scary. From the base of the basin to the ridge line (along the rock rib) I was probably on dry ground or rock hopping for 95% of the time. Some minor scrambling required, class 3 tops though. Once on the ridge it was an easy walk to McName and then Clinton. It was a warm day and the sun was doing some truly nasty stuff to the snow, even though I was off the mountain by 11:30 it was still a slush fest lower down which made snowshoeing highly unpleasant. If anyone wants the gpx tracks, I can send them over, gaining the ridge definitely requires some prior experience though, not trivial terrain. |
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11/22/2021 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 11/22/2021, By: Anima Info: There was a lot more snow than I anticipated. There is continuous snow along the route up to the ridge. Starting at 11,600' snowshoes would be helpful and it looked like most other people had them. Between Wheeler lake and the basin around 12,500' there is 8 to 12 inches of powder snow and the slopes are wind loaded. Wouldn't want to be there if avy danger was high. The ridge between all three peaks is pretty dry. |
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11/15/2021 Route: South Slope Posted On: 11/15/2021, By: halfapackofapache Info: Started from Montgomery reservoir. Trail is packed down pretty well tell tree line. Passing wheeler lake there were spots of hard wind crust and spots of sugary snow that id sink to my knees. Once past wheeler lake and into the upper basin just below Clinton, mcnamee, and traver I was able to avoid most of the snow as the coverage was spotty. The ridge between the 3 peaks was very enjoyable and pretty. Decently windy on the ridge. |
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8/31/2021 Route: Combo Clinton/McNamee/Traver Posted On: 9/1/2021, By: PikaSteve Info: Started at 2WD trailhead at the far end of Montgomery Reservoir. This is also the 4WD trailhead unless you are Sbenfield or you have a special vehicle. The day was slower and rockier than I expected: hiking a rocky road to Wheeler Lake; ascending without trail over rocks and meadows up the basin; and finally climbing up 600 feet of moderately steep scree slope. Some of the most enjoyable hiking of the day was on the ridge from Clinton Peak to Traver Peak with a fairly smooth path and beautiful (although hazy) views. Only a few summer flowers left and only a few fall colors starting to show up, but still a nice day in the mountains. Did not see anyone else after leaving the trailhead. |