Crystal Peak

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: TheseThousandHills
Info: Continuous snow from summit to lower lake. Crystal Creek gate closed. Several large snowfields to cross above the lakes. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: EyeMD
Info: Crystal Peak East Face skiing is still in! The issue is, getting there... Attempted it 6/10, after the big weekend storm, but got up too late, and the snow was Rollerballing on the way up. On 6/12, with a 6AM start, and a solid freeze overnight, it was much safer... I did use micro spikes and an ice axe on the hard morning snow, and had some postholing along the ridge, close to the rocks. The crux is getting above the gully draining from Upper Crystal Lake to Lower Crystal. I climbed the south slopes of Peak 10 to the saddle, then up the East Ridge of Crystal. The skiing on Crystal's East face was amazing! Silky corn for 1000 feet. Skiing the South slopes of Peak 10 let me bypass the steep upper to lower Crystal Lake gully. Get this one done early! 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: moltar
Info: Totally clear in from Father Dyer, summit has significant snow on eastern face, but totally glissadable. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/28/2020, By: Agstrohmeier
Info: Started up after this most recent snowstorm but didn't like the snow conditions so we bailed at lower crystal lake. Skins on about 1 mile up the road from the winter trailhead. At 0.7 miles if you are ok with some dirt skinning. Continuous snow from treeline to summit from what we could see. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/23/2020, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Crystal had prime corn skiing today. Booted up the Crystal Creek road before putting on skis near Francie's Cabin. Skinned up to the headwall above Lower Crystal Lake and then booted up the headwall and up the NE ridge to the summit. Skied all the way back to 11,000' before walking back down the road. 2,800' of continuous skiing - not bad. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 12/7/2019, By: ma1919
Info: The lower part of the road up to the turnoff for the hut is packed snow - no flotation or traction needed for this part. One step off the road would put you in 2-3 feet of unconsolidated powder though. Between the hut and the lower lake, conditions vary from dry spots to thigh-waist deep drifts. Some sections are wind-scoured have thin or no coverage, but every so often I lost the road completely in drifts. I ended up putting on snowshoes for this part just to get through the drifted sections, but the deep spots are short enough that you could probably get by without flotation. I turned around at the lower lake (around 12k) due to increasing winds, but the photo shows most of the upper part of the route. The road to the TH is packed snow pretty much the whole way from Hwy 9. Parking was under half full at around 8:30 when I arrived, but only a few spaces were left around noon when I got back. The summer 4WD road is blocked by a snow berm at the end of the parking lot. 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 10/14/2019, By: Randy1983
Info: Road has some ice but was easily manageable. Getting through the forest to the grassy slopes of Helen was a bit cumbersome. Once on the ridge the new snow and constant wind made things pretty slow. I did bring micro-spikes and crampons but I never used either for the whole route. The ridge from Helen to Dyer looked pretty dry from a distance, but did have a few areas of ice and snow that forced me off route slightly from time to time. But again, nothing that wasn't manageable. The rest of the route had the typical early season fresh snow but mostly dry if you stick to the exposed rock. 

Route: Southeast, Southwest, and Northeast Ridges
Posted On: 9/21/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: Southeast Ridge from Father Dyer: Class 2. Somewhat loose and potentially exposed in spots, but all avoidable. Southwest Ridge to Pacific Peak: Class 2. Loose. A lot of elevation loss to the saddle. If it doesn't look easy pick another line, especially going up or down the bump between Crystal and Pacific. Nothing on this section should be harder than Class 2. Northeast Ridge to Peak 10: Also Class 2 and loose. I did a lot of sidehilling just below the ridge crest en route to Peak 10 instead of staying on the ridge crest itself. It may or may not have been easier, but it's not like it was hard, really, just kind of tedious. Once again a significant loss of elevation en route. 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 9/3/2019, By: Hikingwiththesquad
Info: Stable and snow-free. Had the summits to ourselves. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/3/2019, By: madmattd
Info: Two stream crossings to manage if you walk the road, one can be rock-hopped on 1-2" submerged rocks, the other has a detour path to a set of logs crossing the stream. Crossing at the upper TH is also on a series of water surface-level rocks. Trail is in good shape. 2 minor snowfields to cross on the upper traverse, not going to be around too much longer, but also easily crossed without traction. Descended the East Ridge of Peak 10 which had a couple minor snowfields to manage up high but otherwise was pretty straight-forward. 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 8/3/2019, By: dwoodward13
Info: Fantastic scramble. Rock was solid for the most part. Full on summer conditions. We hit Pacific on the descent, then descend into Mohawk Lakes basin via the lowest saddle between Crystal and Pacific. Slope is very manageable, and you can chose a fantastic glissade with a good runout, or just sticking to dry rock. Easy to link back up to the Mohawk Lakes trail to get back to the car. 

Route: Combo Helen /Father Dyer/Crystal/Peak 10
Posted On: 7/28/2019, By: penadam
Info: Climbed Helen, Father Dyer, Crystal and Peak 10 starting from the intersection of the crystal lake jeep trail and the wheeler trail. Easy class 2 from Dyer to Crystal. Snow was present towards the very top of Crystal but easily avoidable. 1st photo is Crystal from Dyer. 2nd is Dyer from Crystal 

Route: Tenmile Traverse
Posted On: 7/10/2019, By: jfm3
Info: Took a picture from the summit of Peak 10 while doing the Tenmile Traverse. Lots of snow still on the east side and the little lake is still frozen. 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 5/16/2019, By: grahampa
Info: Skinned from spruce Creek TH, over peak 10 to Crystal and to father dyer without trouble. I'd recommend starting earlier across Helen to take advantage of the snow crossings on the couloirs. We were there around 1pm and worried about slides. This route with skis on your back is a little spicier than I expected, but manageable if you're comfortable with exposure. The skiing off of crystal is plentiful! 

Route: Combo Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal
Posted On: 8/16/2018, By: Flyingfish
Info: There is no trail up Helen and a broken set of trail segments over to the start of the class 3 ridge to Father Dyer. Try to stay on the ridge for as long as possible since the slopes below are loose talus and scree. From Father Dyer to Crystal is just an easy ridge full of talus hopping. The standard decent is crappy and loose to the saddle with Peak 10.