Anyone been up in the past week?
Looking to be on mountain 11-10/11-13 2012
Conditions?!

Casaval, Avi Gulch area

Yes I was there last weekend. It was sunny and warm... warmer than it often is in July. I did 2/3rds of the way from camp to the summit in just a long t-shirt! But it will be a lot colder this weekend... significantly.

Conditions were great on Sargents Ridge. Must of the ridge was melted out, but the rock was pretty solid really, and there was enough snow off the ridge so getting down from camp wasn't a pain at all.

No one else was on the mountain last weekend... including AG. I bet you have the place to yourself. It's snowing a little today/tonight, so things will change slightly. Casaval is probably mostly rock, and you can likely stay on snow most of the way if you take AG, but it isn't very deep. I didn't need crampons above 13000 feet, and it is possible you won't need them at all depending on your route (they don't do much good in a foot of fresh snow that's sitting on rock). But I wouldn't leave them behind unless you decide to risk it on AG.

If it's not too windy you'll have a fantastic trip (last weekend the forecast was for 50 mph gusts, but I ended up with none). Let us know how it goes... late fall trips up there can be memorable.

This was Avalanche Gulch yesterday:


It has been snowing up there all day. Snow level was down to about 5,500 and dropping. There will be a fair amount of snow there now. Precipitation is supposed to continue through tomorrow before clearing up Saturday.