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Climbers ascending the Emmons into Camp Schurman with
thunder cell development in the background. |
Stormy weather and challenging route finding over the last few weeks have kept successful Emmons climbs to a minimum. Climbing rangers were stationed at camp Schurman over the weekend prepared to handle the large volume of climbers that were registered to climb. Once again, unsettled weather, cloud caps, high winds, thunder and lightening were the theme of the weekend. With relatively light crowds at camp throughout the weekend, it's assumed that many parties turned around before even reaching Schurman. As of Sunday afternoon, thunderstorms, white out and moderate winds continued to hamper upper mountain climbing conditions.
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Cloud cap development was a theme of the weekend and prevented
most parties from pushing above 11,600ft. |
Of the many different guide groups and independent parties attempting the route in the last week, most reported firm surface conditions, lack of an existing boot pack and challenging route finding throughout the route and especially near the bergschrund. One party climbing on Friday morning was fortunate enough to have moderate temperatures, light winds and good visibility that presented a short window for a summit push. They described "end running" the 12,400 ft. to the climbers right, all the way out on the Winthrop shoulder. This maneuver requires a long, uphill traverse from the top of the corridor and across numerous snow bridges. From there, the route climbs like it has in years past up the Winthrop shoulder and towards the bergschrund features around 13,400 ft. At this point, route finding will become a bit more critical as you work through crack systems up and North towards Liberty Saddle. The successful party reported traversing nearly all the way into Liberty Saddle proper before then ascending the crater to Columbia Crest.
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Emmons glacier on Friday afternoon before storms rolled back in.
Notice the many parallel crevasses in the "alpine meadow"
between 11,800 ft. and 13,000 ft. |
As of Sunday afternoon, many parties were staged at camp waiting for the weather to break and the predicted high pressure to move in. However, despite the forecasted warming trend, unsettled weather and chance of showers/thunderstorms may persist throughout the week. With that, climbers should be prepared for rapidly changing conditions throughout the course of their climb in terms of storm/cloud cap development, white out, poor visibility and challenging route finding. The lack of an established "bootpack" above 11,600 ft. will require sound glacial navigation skills and may necessitate a gps tracklog in order to find your way back down if conditions turn for the worse.
