Where did the winter go? I'd somehow let calendar winter nearly lapse, with no snowflakes to show for it. That seemed like a good enough excuse to take a Friday off from work.

Being only 8.5 miles or so roundtrip, I didn't feel the need to start crazy early, so at 0730 off I went from the Quandary parking lot. I realized 10 minutes later, upon reaching the end of the plowed section of the road, that there seemed to be room for a couple cars to park. I had suspected as much, but considering there have been some issues with people parking along this road in the past, I figured the Quandary parking lot was my best bet.

About 90 minutes later I reached the remnants of the cabin and got my first shot of Fletcher's summit. There was more wind than I expected, but it wasn't anything major. Around the upper lake I think there are a few wind tunnels that are pretty steady, regardless of forecast.

I cruised the mostly flat basin until I reached the headwall. There was a good deal of snow, but it was very firm. I would not have wanted to be without flotation, however.

I found a rock near the base of the incline, out of the wind, and enjoyed a little breakfast break in the sunshine.

A few minutes later, it was up and around the steepest section, still in snowshoes. I would end up wearing the clown shoes all the way until the final summit push.

Reaching the upper part of the basin, I saw the upper headwall and realized I didn't need to go all the way to the right like the summer route specifies. Instead, I was able to stay to the left a little and made quick work of the penultimate steep section.

Once on the plateau, I had the money view of the summit pyramid.

I planned to reach the pile of rocks just before the start of the steeper pitch for my wardrobe change. Once there I realized I had chosen the heart of a nice wind tunnel as my stopping point. The long fetch across that plateau from Drift to where I stood channeled a strong wind over the saddle between Fletcher and the start of Quandary's west ridge. Not ideal, so I decided to forgo crampons (overkill, anyway) and just throw microspikes on. I left the bag and poles and shoes all ready to grab on my way back, and took the axe and headed up.

Partway up I wondered if I should have just stuck with snowshoes, as I was occasionally up to my hip. But all in all, boots (spikes didn't really matter) and the axe were the easiest way up the final pitch. It was fairly messy, but nothing major. I had no idea what kind of cornice there might be, so stayed well left of the ridge.

I reached the summit about 4 hours after leaving the trailhead. That seemed slow for what I usually do, but who knows? This was my first climb since turning the big 5-0, so maybe I'm just old and slow now. Or maybe I just didn't bust it since it was a beautiful day.

The trip down was uneventful (come to think of it, the whole climb was - which is a good thing), and I was in the sun the whole way back to the car. Not the most exciting report, but perhaps it'll provide a little help to someone in the winters to come.