Hello, trusted climbers of Summitpost. I haven't checked here in awhile, but i used to get great advice here and even posted a couple trip reports of my own.
I'm planning a go at Williamson, traditional route from the Bowl, but a longer approach for fun from Kearsarge. Assuming we'd go end of July. Now however, with snow conditions, i'm wondering if there's any advantage to going sooner. I'm a pretty crappy climber on rock. To tell the truth, last time i did Tyndall but chickened out on Williamson, so this time i'm going with a friend who said he's happy to lead the chimney for me. However, i'm VERY comfortable on high angle snow, having done more snow mountaineering.
So, would you guess that the chimney would hold snow and be ok-doable with axe and crampons? How long for the snow to hang in there? Any random thoughts or advice? I'm all ears.