I was really looking forward to a snow climb, but as we made our way up the basin it became pretty apparent that it was unlikely. The SW facing slopes only have patchy snow, while the northern facing slopes still have a thick blanket. The difference in snow coverage on the varying slope aspects was really pretty astonishing. Lavender Col is still a miserable scree slog with ribbons of breakable crust snow. The gully heading toward the V notch was knee to thigh deep slush. The notch itself was choked with snow. We had a motivational crisis at that juncture and bailed.
We parked at the lower TH where the toilet is, and hiked the road up which was snow free for the first half. Then it is mostly snow covered (it looked like a few jeeps had attempted to get up but obviously failed). The trail from the upper TH is patchy snow. Snow shoes/skis would be useless since you'd have to take them off frequently.
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