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 Peak:  Mt. of the Holy Cross
 Route:  North Ridge
 Range:  Sawatch
 Posted By:  BillMiddlebrook
 Date of Info:  6/21/2014
 Date Posted:  6/22/2014
Details

- Some small snow patches on the west side of Half Moon Pass
- No snow on the steep descent from the northwest side of Notch Mtn and down into East Cross Creek
- No snow near the creek or in the camp sites
- From the creek to tree line on the north ridge, there are a bunch of deep snow patches on the last few hundred feet before reaching tree line
- Above the trees, there are a few snow patches along the trail on the way up to 13k. Some made it hard to follow the trail but in daylight the higher cairns should be visible
- Not much snow along the upper ridge
- No snow above the 13,400-foot corner or on the remaining talus to the summit

Sorry, only the one photo because I went up the standard route in the dark and came down the Cross Couloir route.



Comments or Questions
Rocky_Mtn_Bryon
User
snowshoes?
6/23/2014 2:37pm
Thanks for the update Bill. I'm looking to do Halo Ridge with standard route descent. Do you recommend snowshoes or any other snow gear? I'm planning to bring microspikes. Thanks.


BillMiddlebrook
User
Halo
6/23/2014 2:44pm
I don't know about Halo but you might check with Chicago Transplant since he did Halo on Saturday, I think. For the standard route, microspikes and gaiters would be sufficient. Snowshoes are not needed.


bbass11
User
RE: Halo
6/24/2014 9:19pm
I did Halo on the 21st. We did not have spikes or snowshoes. We did have ice axes but never took them off our packs. You can pretty easily walk around most snowfields and the ones we did have to cross were in good shape and/or not on a steep slope so there was not much worry about the need to self arrest.


bdloftin77
User
Snow
6/28/2014 10:52pm
Are the deep patches you mentioned harder snow? I might hike Holy Cross on Tuesday, and am wondering if I should bring boots and stuff, or if running/hiking shoes would be okay.


BillMiddlebrook
User
Snow
6/29/2014 1:02am
The patches were hard when I went through at 3am but I'm sure they get soft by late morning. The patches should be smaller now but I'd recommend bringing some short gaiters regardless of what types of shoes you wear.



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