7/22/2023 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: Phill the Thrill Info: 100% summer conditions now. We carried axe and spikes and never took them out of the pack. The route-finding on the class 3 bypass on the Fletcher/Drift traverse is more difficult than I expected. Bring your A game. |
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7/16/2023 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: Climbed Fletcher and Drift yesterday via the traverse. There are a few snowfields to mitigate up to the saddle between Fletcher and Quandary, and I had microspikes and an axe, but felt it was easy enough to avoid them all on the way up by sticking to rock. The traverse itself is completely snow-free, but like the person who posted also yesterday said - the rock quality is terrible. Theres an abundance of loose rotten rock on this route. Along the traverse, theres a sidehilling section with extremely loose rock, but the class 3 sections proved to be pretty solid. Beautiful day overall. We glissaded down between Drift - Fletcher saddle and again down below. Hardly saw anyone all day! |
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7/16/2023 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: bsiegs Info: A few snowfields remain on the way up to Fletcher. Most can likely be avoided if you really wanted to just stick to the rock, but I had my spikes/axe and climbing them was cruiser. Snowfield running up to the saddle between Fletcher and Drift, but there is no need to step on snow on the traverse itself. Quick heads up, the rock quality was shit all day, but in particular when skirting around the "bypass" (see route description) on the right, there's a really loose, microwave size rock balanced there that's sitting right above the line where most climbers will probably scramble back up to the ridge..(see picture, not the best, but hopefully enough of a caution). I tried to secure it in there the best I could, but the thing has heft. Wear a helmet. Got 5 good glissades on the way down! |
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7/6/2023 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/6/2023, By: glenhanderson Info: Hit the Blue Lakes TH at 6am on a weekday, only 1 other vehicle there. Solo climber was doing Quandary West Ridge as we saw him ahead of us when hiking in. The gate to the Dam area is closed, so immediately the 5.5 miles turns to 6.5, but it's an easy approach. There's lots of spots with snow and running water all the way up to the saddle between Quandary and Fletcher. Most can be avoided. Snow was very firm early in the morning, but higher up where the sun hit earlier it was getting soft already before 8am. Later on the way down, there were places that were firm and places where you might pothole to your hips. We decided to hoof up a couple of the snow slopes, used microspilkes and had the ice axes out for one section. There was one snow slope we booted up higher on Fletcher as well. Rest of the time was rock hopping. Oh the rock hopping. You'll get plenty of that! Beware of shifting boulders. Getting up to Drift was the exciting part, route finding and all. There are still patches of snow here and there to work around and some wet sections of rock due to the melt. We didn't have too hard a time finding the route up until the business end of the class 3 section. Before that, there's a pretty distinct path and the description on 14ers.com is reasonable. The climbing down the class 3 sections was a little spicier than going up just because the boots or rocks were occasionally wet and a little slippery and there are plenty of loose rocks - test every hold before committing. There are several different paths one can take and we did it differently going down versus up. All in all though, fun scramble and great summit views as always. Saw no other people doing this route today. On the way down we cut down a snow slope off of the lower part of Drift to avoid going back up Fletcher. Once in the valley, we retraced our steps back to the TH. Clouds moved in by 11am and some of them were dark, but no rain or thunder on this day. |
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7/4/2023 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: backcountrybrodes Info: Blue Lakes parking lot was me and one truck at 6am, and packed full by the time I got down at 12:45pm. 4th of July had people circling both lakes for the afternoon lol. Felt small drizzle half an hour after I started which was weird XD and made it up to Fletcher Mtn by 7:30ish. Beautiful views for my 53rd centennial, and even made it over to Drift Pk by 9am. Still some considerable fields of snow above 13k - I would have been in a very bad spot without my ice axe! (Read further) Long story short, some weather almost caught me on the class 3 section near the summit of Drift (where I was getting cliffed out while hauling ass trying to get down) and then actually caught me at 11:30am at 12.5k where I sheltered under a rock while 3 or 4 massive booms of thunder sounded over my head. Storms then cleared up I didn't have half a thought of adding Quandary on to my route after that experience! Needless to say it was an eventful day. Happy 4th of July! :-) |
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7/1/2023 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 7/2/2023, By: davidneuder Info: Summited Fletcher on 07/01/2023. Only group on the mountain. I believe the standard route was snow covered at about 12.5. We found that the route up towards the ridge between fletcher and quandary was mostly clear of snow. This route is fairly well-cairned. We got to the ridge and traversed across to the standard fletcher route (away from quandary). A few snow patches where traction could have been helpful but we did without. Near the top there was a lengthy 200 ft snow field on a steep slope we had to cross. But path was fairly boot tracked. |
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5/29/2023 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: 14er101 Info: They ascended SE ridge, descended SW ridge, then met back up with the standard route. Traction is still necessary, microspikes would suffice but recommend crampons and an ax, no need for flotation. Perfect snow conditions, solid and good for kick steps on the ascent, and amazing glissades on the descent. |
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5/21/2023 Route: Northwest Face Posted On: 5/21/2023, By: macg91 Info: Good snow coverage on the NW face and the couloirs dropping in from lookers right of the summit, minus some rocky spots right as they top out onto the ridge. I climbed and skied the middle of the three. Other routes on the NW aspect including the gullies below/left of the summit and the gully going up to the Fletcher/Drift saddle are definitely out. Occasionally punched through surface crust while booting up but snow was overall supportive in the early morning and still hadnt softened much by 10am when I descended. Continuous snow on the Mayflower Gulch approach starting just past the trailhead. Fletcher SE face also appeared to be in for a ski/board descent. |
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5/6/2023 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/7/2023, By: Gibson135 Info: Still a good amount of snow up there! It was hard enough to need microspikes most of the way up starting around the lakes. After an hour I felt like I brought too much gear for the temps, but as usual, every layer was necessary once the wind and snow picked up. Visibilty dropped to almost nothing due to clouds and snow falling for a little bit, but eventually cleared up. As expected, the snow softened up a lot around 10:30 coming back in the sun. I had snowshoes but tolerated some scattered postholing for a little bit near the end. |
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9/27/2022 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 9/27/2022, By: petkovip33 Info: Stellar hiking conditions today. Still no accumulated snow. Started late and summited Fletcher around 11am. Ran down as electric clouds rolled in but only produced thunder. Some light sleet/snow on the way down. -@Chip_connoisseur |
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9/4/2022 Route: Mayflower Gulch Traverse Posted On: 9/4/2022, By: thurs Info: Atlantic to Fletcher traverse: Gendarme #2 tat situation is pretty good, newish cordalette and rap ring is in good shape. We ended up rapping off this while going north to south. Careful, easy to get your rope stuck. Gendarme #5 is not looking so hot. But we slinged a boulder with the rope. Trail from Fletcher to Drift was easy to follow and avoids the notch. |
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7/9/2022 Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse Posted On: 7/10/2022, By: NittanyLion14er Info: Trail wet and muddy up to/into bowl. Above the bowl dry with very avoidable snow. 3 areas where glissades still possible, take ax, snow was soft on surface but still had some hard spots and very easy to pick up speed on steeper slopes at 7:30am. Traverse dry. |
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5/27/2022 Route: NW face Posted On: 5/27/2022, By: jmanner Info: Fletcher is super in on its SE face, NW face is very much not in, in good conditions. Snow was punchy in ascent on Fletcher; snow was softening up at about 11:00 am. New snow definitely needs more time to consolidate some. Don't go there, just ski it from the east- but it was also punchy at 10:40 am. |
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4/9/2022 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 4/9/2022, By: kimbuk2 Info: Road is clear, packed snow and some dirt. Initial plan to follow the summer route and/or stay close to the cliffs per the last report, but with a big group to try to avoid steep angled slopes, stayed to the left close to Blue Lakes to gain ridge earlier (see dark blue route on map). The slopes leading up to the ridge were windblown and firm around 7-8am but started to soften up and definitely required some post holing to get to 12,600ft. Bailed at that point due to softening snow conditions & climbing on an east facing slope (evidence of avy on a different E facing slope in the basin). Didn't need snowshoes, my group used crampons for the climb up to the ridge, and I used microspikes and 1 pole. Gear Used: La Sportiva Nepals, microspikes, extra layers for wind, trekking pole, brought ice axe and crampons but didn't need them. |
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3/26/2022 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 3/26/2022, By: gluckhikes Info: Rather than following the summer route through the middle of the valley, I stayed north and kept close to the cliffs at the base of Quandary. Was able to stay on rocks here, saving time and not needing snowshoes. There were 3 or 4 short sections of steep snow to reach the summit. Used the ice axe and microspikes carefully, but crampons would have felt a lot better. |
