I have been to the Alaska Range 5 times... the first in 1988, the last in 2014.
On all of those we flew in to Kahiltna International.
The last trip (early June 2014) I was a bit surprised by the warm and decaying conditions down low.
We were there to do West Buttress of Hunter. Got only to the Cat's Ears. No way was it gonna happen. We would have drowned.
Was told by several guides that we needed to be there a month (!) earlier (early May).
They said "Things have changed".

We didn't go up on Denali so I didn't get to look at conditions higher up.
I really would like to know if the recommended seasons, say from Joe Puryear's book, for more technical routes on the upper mountain, or even the lower West Rib, have changed any.
Do people still climb the West Rib, the Cassin or Pioneer ridge in late June/early July?
Less than 10 years ago it was still possible. Now, well, I don't live there, am not a guide, and need to ask.
Any observations would be appreciated.
(And I have been around long enough to know that every year is different, but have you seen longer term trends (?))

-- Jack (an old guy, but still trying to have fun)

Thanks, Sunny. Those links made for some interesting reading. But they really just talked about the West Buttress route, mentioned the late season crevasse problems, and talked about weather.
Well, weather is always just what it is. But long term warming trends create weird changes. Like, on snow slopes, it might be heavy water laden layers which are deep. The spooky iso-thermal glacier mush on the lower Kahiltna during July is an example but it can also affect steeper slopes and become a death trap. OR,... it can melt out ice couloirs leaving extremely difficult rock pitches instead of easy neve cruising.
Of course you know all that; I'm just saying it as an example of what I'm asking about. Anyway, I guess I'm hoping that someone who has been on steeper routes during the last 4 or 5 years during late season might comment.
I'm thinking that above about 11k or 12k things are probably fine. But
it can't hurt to ask, eh? It would be unfortunate to arrive in mid-late June to do the lower West Rib and find it to be spooky mush... and have the guides and rangers say "What did you expect this late?" Ha ha ha.
Well, weather varies constantly, but are there any noticeable trends in the larger scale "conditions"... that's all I'm asking.

It's 15 years since I climbed Denali, by the West Butt, but even then they were saying July was too late. We deliberately arrived 8th May - brrrr - and by 1st June when I left it was a different mountain. It's my understanding that in most years, most teams are done by early July, with early June being the most 'crowded' time.

For tech routes (Moonflower etc) it seems April-May is more popular, with the exception of the Cassin (or other south face routes) as May might be a bit cold to be that high with so little camping gear. In the Ruth and Tokositna I'm not sure anyone climbs there past mid-May anymore?

But the other issue, that has had a greater immediate effect, is that the last two Alaskan winters have been particularly warm, even by the measure of a generally warming climate. This is why some recent climbs have been done in March, especially lower peaks (Huntington) and ridge climbs (that would normally have too much snow on them early, and be too melted out late).

Not that it affects Denali, but some of the lower coastal glaciers have been melting incredibly fast and losing a lot of ice mass. Even if the weather goes back to the 'normal' of several years ago, or a decade ago, the physical landscape of some of these lower regions will have changed permanently, affecting approaches and access for anyone not flying in.

We had a West Rib team climb to the summit beginning in mid-June in 2012. They had good conditions all the way up the route, but do NOT take this to mean that you might experience the same.

The Range has seen dramatic fluctuations in conditions over the years and I always say that any generalizations I might make are wrong one year in three. The NE Fork gets a lot less direct sun than does the Kahiltna, so it tends to hold up better against the slush/mashed potatoes that is commonplace anywhere below 9,000' on the Kahiltna by the end of June in most years.

We had another team climb the NW Buttress starting in mid-May a few years back, who found great conditions and another Rib team have good luck in mid-May in 2014, but I tried the Rib in mid-May a while back and we were thwarted by super lean, labyrinthian crevasse conditions, with more serac falls from W Kahltina Peak than was acceptable to me... The point is, make your best plan and hope for the best, but be flexible.

Pioneer Ridge would be exciting, but your timing would probably be forced to be later in the season, as the buses to Wonder Lake generally don't run until the beginning of the second week of June. It has a very different aspect from the Rib and Cassin as well, so it might be in better condition later in the season?

*** By "we" I mean Mountain Trip - one of the concessioner guide services on the mountain...

That was a good report! Thanks. I've been reading different trip reports from the last 3-4 years and it really does NOT seem that things are terribly different from 20 years ago.
And your comment about dramatic fluctuations in conditions pretty much sums it up (from what I've read elsewhere). The fluctuations are wild enough that getting a read on longer term climate change is pretty impossible at this point.
I'm going to cease even thinking about it; just gonna go when I can go and it'll be what it is.
What's funny is that I already knew that, like everyone else that goes up there.
Just thought I'd ask in case maybe I was missing something obvious.

Of course, there is that question of how Becky climbed Hunter in July........... ha ha ha!!

You nailed it!

Keep in mind that nowadays, the air taxis pretty much tell you that if you are hoping for a pickup from KIA after the third week of July, you'd better have a Plan B. Plan B might be an alternate potential LZ off the SE Fork of Foraker or hiking to the Pika...

Just stay "rigidly flexible!"