This should give you an idea of the conditions - this is the meat of LLV taken from the summit of Morgan on Monday. You can see the outline of Treasure Lakes as the shores are just starting to melt out.



JD

cool shot! it is a little bit sketch to ski near even the highest lakes now!!!
how is the rock quality on bear creek? when we skied there i was totally infatuated with the north face of it, but the rock varies so much all over little lakes its hard to know!

Why sketch? There was a clear path to ski from high on Dade back to Treasure Lakes without any rocks and there was only one 50' section you had to dismount between the rocks on Abbot's NE Couloir on the way back to the Lakes. Cox Col near BCS on down to Treasure Lakes looks like a great ski, too. One person in our party did enjoy corn and mashed potatoes from both Abbot and Dade, leaving those of us with snowshoes feeling pretty dejected on the descents.

The rock on BCS is great in my experience. I "hiked" the NE Ridge and came down Ulrich's Route and the granite was impeccable. It's not a pile of sand and scree like Mills and Abbot. On the other hand, much of (S) Morgan is a giant pile of sand but from the North it's never steep so it's like a pleasant walk on the beach!

JD

jdmorris - would you say snowshoes are mandatory to explore ruby / gem lakes? or is the trail clear? any sketchy watery crossings?

Snowshoes would drastically improve your quality of life at Gem and Ruby although you might survive without them. You will have to submerge the tops of your boots to get across some water crossings (where the trail crosses the outlet of Long Lake in particular, unless you want to go around the Lake, instead, which allows you to avoid water altogether), but if they're waterproof you'll stay dry. The trail around Long Lake is where the snow started to completely cover the trail, although it is melting fast.

JD

We just came back from climbing the NE Ridge. Snow was pretty solid, we brought snowshoes and crampons, but we didn't use/need either.