Luciano136 wrote:Sweet! Looks like a good boot track to the pass. Do you recall if the rocks on the climber's right up to Mt. Gould were snow free? I would imagine so.

Yes. Spine toward Mt. Gould from the pass is snow free.

Dizzy wrote:

Luciano136 wrote:Sweet! Looks like a good boot track to the pass. Do you recall if the rocks on the climber's right up to Mt. Gould were snow free? I would imagine so.

Yes. Spine toward Mt. Gould from the pass is snow free.

Thanks so much!!

olegace wrote:Anybody knows what's going on at Mosquito Flat / Little Lakes Valley? Is it possible to do some backpacking without snow gear?

Saw a couple of photos from June 26-27 showing LIttle Lakes Valley pretty well melted out; the guy who took them confirmed that impression (he was headed to Ruby Lake. which he said was basically at the snowline at the time).

West Walker basin off Sonora pass has spotty snow drifts (still 6+ feet tall in places!) from ~9k, rapidly becoming solid coverage going up. Getting incredibly sloppy in the sun, though, as it's melting fast. There's still a ton of snow up there - got to love postholing up to your waist and still not hitting the ground in July. The Dorothy lake/Tower peak area looked to be completely snow covered. On the west side of the pass, the higher country in the Emigrant wilderness also looked completely snow covered from the road.

Rivers and creeks are still full and ferocious, so be careful. Ran into some crazy people who forded the West Walker when it was chest high, 50+ feet across, and running fast. I just stuck to no-fall log crossings over raging torrents. Somehow it seemed safer - the amount of water moving in the larger creeks/rivers is astonishing.

Mosquito season are definitely getting going. They were swarming like crazy at 7k, and fairly persistent until it was solid snow cover up past ~9k. Get ready to donate blood this summer...