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I have some time off from Sept 11-21. Thinking about coming up to the Cascades for some alpine rock...Washington Pass, Prusik Peak, etc. What is the usual weather pattern, climbing conditions in mid-Sept? I've been to the Cascades a lot in May-June, but never late in the season. Any thoughts?

should be fine I'd guess.

edit in: glanced at my material...did prusik sept. 28th, did DEB at WA Pass sept. 30th...I'm sure others can provide examples of when the weather crapped out though.

Middle to late September can be very good. We always do a couple climbs then before the monsoon season hits. Lot of good peaks are prime in September.

Should be excellent - however, we have had the coolest, wettest spring in a very long time, so Lord knows what autumn will be like. However, this is usually the height of Indian summer and a gorgeous time of year.

Moni wrote:the height of Indian summer and a gorgeous time of year.

Ahem, that's Native American summer to you missy.

I have had great luck with weather in mid-September. Hopefully you will be able to knock off Prusik Peak in good weather.

ExcitibleBoy wrote:

Moni wrote:the height of Indian summer and a gorgeous time of year.

Ahem, that's Native American summer to you missy.

Damn near the best time of the year, for which-ever Native American Indian.

September can be wonderful, with most of the mosquitoes and biting flies dead and cool, crisp days. The only thing you'll need to pay attention to are yellow-jackets and other wasps, which love to live in deadfall. If you're heading cross-country through forest in September, you're bound to run into these little beasts. I'm probably over-sensitive to this issue right now, since I got stung 12 times in the space of about 10 seconds last year at that time. If you stay on trail and then leave trail above timberline, you shouldn't have any issues, but I would otherwise stay out of deadfall areas where those critters love to live.

Sounds like a go for the Cascades in Sept. Good to know about the bees. We likely won't be doing too much bushwacking. Want to do some routes around WA Pass, S Face Prusik, Orbit on Snow Creek Wall...that would be a good trip.

Did Prusik Peak in early October. It was a great trip.

September is often nice. Sometimes it isn't. Over a long period of September hikes, I guess that it turned bad about one-third of the time. Among the photos I have posted is one of Purssik Peak. It was a beautiful September day although there is relatively fresh snow in the foreground. That night it snowed about four inches. I didn't stay around to see how long the bad weather lasted.l