Anyone been up there recently? I will be attempting Ritter this Sunday in a dayhike. I'll be bringing crampons/axe, does anyone know if opting for glacier travel will add or subtract time on this route?

I passed by Ediza on 9/5 and snapped these; dunno if they will help much....

For the SE route on Ritter..there is no reason at all to be on the glacier. You should be skirting the glacier to the West.

dustytrail wrote:For the SE route on Ritter..there is no reason at all to be on the glacier. You should be skirting the glacier to the West.

So is it possible to avoid snow altogether? Crampons/ax needed?

dustytrail wrote:For the SE route on Ritter..there is no reason at all to be on the glacier. You should be skirting the glacier to the West.

that statement is very time dependent

From those photos it looks like you can skate by without them, unless my eyes are deceiving me it looks like the chutes are snow free (maybe some at the top?).

That isn't necessarily a good thing. Snow free chute/couloir usually means rock fall death trap. Only time I was up on Ritter there was a lot of suncupped snow, and crampons were a definite must, and fun to use too!

I just talked to a buddy at the Forest Service..he said there is one patch of snow you have to cross...normally it's gone this time of year and you can climb the SE route without touching snow..but this year is different than other years.

He said the patch isn't terribly steep, but it's very hard. It's just before you enter the right hand chute.

He said the chute was clear and the upper face was clear of snow.

I'd bring the gear.. for just in case

But from looking at these pictures.. I sure don't see any snow, unless it's in the chute itself.

Thanks for the info, folks. Trip semi-failed. My climbing partner and I got to Tuolumne Meadows Friday night, slept very poorly, and did Parson's Peak on Saturday. After 27 miles we were not relishing the idea of Ritter the following day, so we did Sonora Peak instead (I'm CoHPing). Note to self: get the harder peak over FIRST next time!!!!