Just came down from Bear Creek Spire. The North arete still has a bunch of snow on it, e.g. the belay ledges on the first pitches.

Snow gets pretty postholey in the afternoon, especially on the descent to Dade Lake. Snow starts at Gem Lakes. Water is accessible at Dade Lake.

We also found an ice axe on the route, send me a message with a description, if it's yours.

schaffner wrote:
We also found an ice axe on the route, send me a message with a description, if it's yours.

uh-oh! I think there was a thread a few years(?) back about someone accusing a hiking party of stealing their stashed axe and crampons on the lower part of the route...-?

Yes, I vaguely remember that, the thread is actually shown under "related posts" below, it was last year. But we found this axe on pitch 7 or so, so intentional stashing seemed very unlikely.

Shaffner, PM message sent.