Regional discussion and conditions reports for the Golden State. Please post partners requests and trip plans in the California Climbing Partners forum.
On 8-15-10 crampons made it easy, with a bit of an icy crust, instep crampons would have been fine. With cooler temps coming I am sure it will be icy in the am.
Mr Chad... meant to post this earlier, hope it's not too late for you. We climbed most of Abbot NE Couloir on 9/19. Heavily suncupped on the flats, good neve halfway up, and hard AI with patches of WI towards the top. Really nice conditions. It dries out near the top of the direct route. It looks like you can easily move left onto class 3-4 rock before the top of continuous ice. It won't soften during the day.
Thank you haishan. I actually climbed it on 9/24. An excellent outing. Conditions just as you described. I took my steel crampons (as opposed to my normal choice of the lighter aluminum ones) and crossed onto the rock relatively low on the right side, before the real WI. Was an excellent trip and regardless, thanks for posting...