I'm hoping to do Granite this weekend and was wondering if anyone had heard recent conditions up there?

On another note, I'm hoping to do Black Mtn. tomorrow and wondering if it's dog-friendly? About as "technical" as I'll take my dog is Ross Peak in Bridgers and she did good on that with exception of one sketch section of 3/4 tight/steep gullies that my poor route-finding led to.

cheers

Hey I am planning on heading up granite on thursday. I just called the rangers and they said its a normal snowpack year so expect snow but froze-to-death is mostly free from snow and huckelberry is in decent condition. so either way will work

I did Granite over July fourth a couple of years back (normal snow year). My one piece of advice is to keep your crampons (and axe?) with you beyond the snowbridge. There were a couple of small but treacherous patches of snow higher on the mtn that most would want crampons for if they're still there.

Black is easy unless you're doing the Y couloir.

Conditions were beautiful last Sunday when I hiked up to Tempest. Some bivy's still had snow, but others were clear. Judging from the amount of snow from the saddle, peakhugger's advice is solid.

Nice, good to hear all around. I did Beehive instead this past weekend but hoping to do Granite in a couple of weeks. Thanks for heads up's, too.

Cotton wrote:Nice, good to hear all around. I did Beehive instead this past weekend but hoping to do Granite in a couple of weeks. Thanks for heads up's, too.

How's beehive? Snow gone yet or will I need axe and crampons?

It's been a couple weeks now but I did Beehive SW coulior on July 3. Here are my photos from the trip. I used axe and crampons. My buddy followed me up with no crampons no problem, using my steps. Not sure what it would look like now with how warm it has been...

http://www.facebook.com/chris.knapp.589 ... 985&type=3

Also I am heading up Granite Monday and Tuesday. We will be doing the SW coulior though, not the standard route.

awesome Morlow, looking forward to your report as we'll be doing SW couloir Aug10-14th.

I'd be very grateful for any info or pics from both of your SW Couloir trips. Good luck!

I always take tons of pics so you can expect a lot from me! I'm hoping there will still be some snow up there, although I really don't know what to expect.

Here are the pictures from our Granite Trip. There were a few pretty sketchy parts since we didn't bring crampons for some reason (ah the pains of still learning my way around the mountains), and because of wet rock.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 985&type=1

fantastic photos and comments Morlow!!! And a huge congratulation!

We'll be sure to bring crampons and axe with us, did you have any problem climbing down the couloir?

I'm excited and a bit nervous because class3 is probably the best I can do, thank you.

We didn't have any trouble climbing down other than the icy section, which was interesting. The left side of the icy section was melted out a few inches from the rock, just enough to stick my skinny legs in for a jam to make it past the ice. I have no idea how long that ice will be there, but I would say bring crampons just in case, even though it's literally like a 10-foot section.

How's beehive? Snow gone yet or will I need axe and crampons?

Sorry for the late reply, dude. Havent been back to this thread in a minute.

If you want to go straight up the 4th of July couloir then at least an ice axe would be good. We actually scrambled on the rock to climber's right of the couloir - this wasn't too bad and kind of fund. Mostly class 4 stuff and possibly some class 5 moves with little exposure depending on your route-finding. Good luck chief!

The snow and ice is basically gone from the SW chute now. My group went up on August 7 and needed no snow gear.