Anyone been into the Wind Rivers recently?
Where were you? How much snow? What were the snow conditions?

TIA-
splattski

I went to Lake Louise twice in May. Of course, next to no snow. Hobbs Park Snotel is off the charts. I took this pic on Monday looking SW from the Dunoir Valley. Gjeitland, Downs Mt., its pretty polar up there. 29 degrees here this morning. Heavy rains night before last. Realize you're probably looking at Western approaches. I would guess they got considerably less snow.

John.....the boys are up the river, scoping out Squaretop....they will be back Saturday.... Tate has my camera....hope he uses it......will post some shots if he does.

JB

John, what do the Absarokas your way look like? I'm going in there in a couple of weeks, out of Kirwin and Sunlight Basin. Not that it matters, because I'm going in anyway, but it might be nice to know what to expect.

Bob,

We did not get hammered like the Eastern Winds did, but I'm guessing they got a bit more than us towards Kirwin as it came out of the Southeast. Here's Ramshorn Peak Monday. I would be prepared for some higher stream levels Bob, but next week looks like a good melt week thus far. As in most years I would expect Cougar, Pierpont, and Bowles passes to have good snow into the second half of July. Headed for Burwell?

The peaks around Sunlight Basin and the North Absarokas are melting out pretty well this week, but it looks snowier the farther south you go. Carter, Jojo, and Francs are still holding quite a bit of snow up high...

Doublecabin wrote:Headed for Burwell?

No-- Dunrud, Dollar, Chief Mountain. Or maybe Sniffel instead of one of those.

And Dead Indian Peak out Sunlight Basin way.

Anyone been up on the Beartooth Highway? I plan to backpack a couple nights heading in from Goose Lake and wonder what the snow's like up there, too.

OK- I suppose I could have been a bit more specific. We're heading for Gannet via Titcomb Basin (locked into the date). We know there is a lot of snow up high... just wondering if anyone knows what sort of snow conditions?

I did the dump run today Bob and did indeed see much heavier snow farther East on the Southern end here. Forgot the camera, sorry man. Friend headed for Brewster Lake and up to the Gros Ventre Divide is resigned to taking shoes. Pretty amazing for the Gros Ventre the last week of June.

Splatski, I hope I'm right and they didn't get that snow over on the Green side. If for some reason you came down the Glacier Trail [which I think would be better right now?] Someone more knowledgeable would have to weigh in for I've only done it from Dubois.

Our weather got nice today. Have a wonderful trip Splatski,

John

splattski wrote:OK- I suppose I could have been a bit more specific. We're heading for Gannet via Titcomb Basin (locked into the date). We know there is a lot of snow up high... just wondering if anyone knows what sort of snow conditions?

Looking at doing the same, first week of August.
I'm curious about general snowfall this past winter, or what that time might be like.
Any observations or predictions?

As John pointed out, east-side snowpack is heavier than the west side. See: http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/nrcs/snow ... wprec.html for detail. Note Wind River drainage vs Upper Green River.

We will be maiking a July 17th attempt on Gannett Peak. A June 13 email from a friend of mine who lives in the area:

The Eastern face of the Winds are getting hammered right now, as are we. The Snow line is forecast below 5000 feet tonight and has been at 6000 feet for the past few days. They had an exceptionally wet spring up there with a winter type storm raging right now and we had one in late May as well. They are flooding in the Wind River Valley right now due to heavy runoff and heavy rain.

You still have a month for things to melt and dry out however. Watch the weather in Dubois to get a feel for things. http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... uery=82513. Hope for Hot and Dry weather for the next month.

As for effecting your climb, It shouldn't. Just be ready for swollen streams, and lots of mosquitoes. Gannett will likely have lots of snow with the firn line being pretty low. This will make the climbing easier since the crevasses and the bergschrund will probably be covered for easy crossing. You will also likely be able to climb the Top Glacier to the top for an easy summit. I have done this before and it was much nicer then scrambling along the top ridge.

Thursday....
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/biglost/4716960041/" title="Squaretop by Biglost, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4716960041_fddcd3bb77_b.jpg" width="1024" height="639" alt="Squaretop" /></a>

I took this from just below the summit of Mt. Leidy Sunday June 20, 2010.

Just got back from Fremont (June 23) and Gannett (June 24). We hit the big melt-out. We crossed a snow bridge over Indian Creek on Thursday morning that wasn't safe that same afternoon. Lots of snowshoeing. A total of exactly 17 mosquitoes.
Trip report:
http://www.splattski.com/2010/gannett/index.html