"Drift Peak"

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/24/2020, By: dhagan
Info: Dry. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/17/2020, By: Makbrad
Info: Mayflower Gulch Trailhead is one of my favorite training areas because of all the accessible peaks and routes. I did a hot lap on August 19; then returned September 12 to climb Drift for snow condition beta after the recent storm. In between this time a storm took down what I estimate to be over 20 trees down on the road blocking passage to the mine. This added significant time to the hike each way as you will have to hop over the trees to and from the mine. There is a couple of paths cuts down and around some of the larger uprooted trees. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/27/2020, By: mjflynn74
Info: There is one patch of snow left on the route -- right after the point of dark rock that runs from 13,500 to 13,600. It's not wide -- just ten feet or so -- but if you're taking the class 3 route over the dark rock like I did, there's a ten-foot drop straight onto the sloping snow. . . and at least today, after four days of rain freezing onto it, it was hard as a rock and icy-slick. I steered clear of it altogether on the return trip. On your ascent, if you stay left of the ridge crest at 13,450, well *before* you get to the dark rock, you can go beneath and around the snow. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: jbealer
Info: Since there has been no new report thought i would add one. snow was firm in the morning, 6am start. spikes were used on the assent, some great boot steps on the upper ridge. by noon i was postholing on the return down the mid section of the ridge in spots and then put snowshoes on to come down the last slope, the one filled with cornices that i traveled farther down towards the trees and kept them on for the road leading back to the parking lot. you could do with out if you don't mind sinking some, i carried the dang things up there so i put them on. about that cornice slope.... i went up the middle of it where there seemed to be old steps and did not see any melt activity below it, i decided once over it that i would not go back that way (soft snow by then). you can go far left and bypass them, or right which is how i came back. the cornices on the ridge seemed fine to me, right now, i did sink on the return some so watch where you walk. i found it to be a great day out, only hiker, everyone else was on skies. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/24/2019, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Trail is packed to the upper gate; snowshoes necessary after that. We ditched our snowshoes at the base of the first slope, and after that, it was plenty of sugar snow on scree. My buddy took a tumble on a south-facing slope near the ridgeline when a rock that had provided a good foothold going up rolled when he tried to use it again on the way back. He had some postholing along the ridge where there's serious potential for future cornices, though he crossed it and summited safely (I had to stop around 13k due to medical equipment issues). 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/17/2019, By: jibler
Info: Busted up this way fairly quickly yesterday - and was essentially all set to actual take the final steep section beyond the upper ridge. BUT wind blew cold and these hovering snow storms looked like weather I didn't want to be in. PLUS the ridge in photos took a bit longer to cross than anticipated - and I didn't want to cross it in foul weather either. AND crossing this snowy ridge was in fact a ton of fun - so I thought I would just take my time back across and take a ton of photos. IF there were any more snow - crossing would have been extremely complicated. As it was I had just my winter boots on - no poles no extra traction devices. (weather in fact did hold - if I was willing to put up with cold it coulda mine!) 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 10/4/2019, By: jtfoss1
Info: A dusting of snow made some sections a little more difficult, but the most difficult parts got sunshine early on. We missed the bypass and added 45 minutes to our climb - once you get to the first descent from the saddle adjacent to Fletcher, you follow the path continuously to the notch to drop through, you don't head up the next point. Once you've crossed the gully, the climbing is difficult (for mortals like me at least) to regain the ridge. The rock is loose but doable. There are some sections of steep loose dirt, some that were covered in a thin layer of snow. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 9/23/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: The approach through the basin above Blue Lakes is great and easy to follow. In the "middle basin", where all the big blocky cliffs are, trend climber's left instead of right. There's still a surprising amount of snow but all of it can be avoided by zig-zagging through the cliffs. In the upper basin I went for the "Drift"/Fletcher saddle to do "Drift" first. This was straight forward and not that loose. Finding the down climb to cross the gully (where the old mining eyebolt is) was easy. After that, however, is when things got serious. The Class 3 climbing up the white rock was quite heady and steep. I thought it harder than Class 3, personally; there was a huge amount of route finding, much of the rock was loose and/or slabby with poor hand/footholds, and every ledge was covered in dirt/scree/gravel that made things sketchy. I didn't climb all the way to the ridge crest by going up climber's left as shown in the route description, as the rock got VERY loose in what I assumed to be the correct final gully/chimney, so I down climbed and took a rather low angle (nearly flat, actually) slab around a corner. This was incredibly exposed but easy. From there the route returned to Class 2, but be careful, the blocks on the west side of the ridge are large and loose. Returning the way I came up was not nearly as difficult as getting up it in the first place. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 6/4/2019, By: CoulKurt
Info: Snow begins 20 feet from lot. Upper basin holding tons of snow still. Evidence of wet slides everywhere. But in from the top for sure. Ski out was nice at 930 am. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: screeman57
Info: Tons of snow up Mayflower Gulch. Mainly Winter condish above 12,500 feet. Lots of wind slab, very little spring consolidation. Upper ridge is snow covered, with options for rock-hopping if you like icy rocks... Several skiers dropped into the NW bowl and reported good skiing. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/14/2019, By: Giant hills
Info: Attempted drifts "villa ridge" route from mayflower gulch trailhead. From T.H to junction was packed snow no need for flotation. We took the junction mentioned in previous report that is about .75 miles up the road on the right side can't miss it. There is a nice trench all the way to the base of drift. This dodges the avy terrian on the summer route and takes you up to the top of gold hill. snowshoes are necessary until the base of drift. On top of gold hill we heard and felt about 2-3 large/loud woomfs in the snow pack. Luckily we were on safe ground. Once at the base of drifts ridge it was variable snow to gain the ridge and steep. I ditched the snowshoes and used the axe and kicked steps. 2 others used snow shoes with axe. There was some rocks sticking out not much but made it a little easier. One spot gaining the ridge were there was loaded snow that took a tad bit of caution but nothing to major. Once on the ridge it was variable snow and large cornices. Not to much rock showing at times so stayed right as possible but not to far. It was pretty easy to still tell where you were. I used micro spikes and got by but crampons wouldve been better in spots. We were stopped at the sight were the cornices switched directions from hanging over left of ridge proper they went right and had to cross a spot were the ridge wasnt really visible just snow and a cornice. couldn't tell how far it stretched out. The Corniced areas ahead didn't look very stable and fresh avy on the right hand side of the ridge underneath them. with this and the "woomfs" we heard earlier,as hard as it was we called it. Def going to go back in more stable conditions super beautiful/fun route. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 7/26/2018, By: HikerGuy
Info: No snow on traverse from Fletcher to Drift. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 6/13/2018, By: Trotter
Info: Lots of snow between fletcher and drift. Wasn't a problem until just after the ring/bolt, during the gully bypass. Snow/hard ice and wet rocks are a serious issue here. The "white rock" is almost completely covered, had to make several class 4 moves to get around to the north side, where ascent back to the ridge was possible. Also, rock was surprisingly loose, test your holds. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 7/17/2017, By: ihan
Info: Route finding was easy. The only challenge in the traverse was the crux, which seemed to be at least class 4. In a somewhat experienced group of 6, none of us could find a line that would be class 3 for the down-climb. There was little stable rock and the dirt was not "sticky" enough to be helpful. After leaving Drift, there were many areas on the saddle past the notch where one could descend. Lots of snowfields in the basin, but they were either easily avoidable or short and shallow. 

Route: Fletcher+Drift Traverse
Posted On: 7/1/2017, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Did the traverse from Fletcher to Drift. I was able to avoid snow the entirety of the traverse. Most importantly, the crux climb is completely dry, which allows you to pick the line that best suits you.