Went up Dead Dog early yesterday. Hit the trail at 4 (a little late. missed my alarm, thankfully my partner woke me up). Bottom of the couloir just past 5. Started our ascent at 5:30 and I topped out around 8. Had a good freeze the night before considering the time of year. Snow was ok at the bottom, pretty good in the middle, and soft at the very top (past the grey rock where you go right). A good amount of rockfall on the way up, so keep left as best you can and cross the runnel as early as you can as it gets deeper the farther up you go. My partner topped out at just past 8:30, and that's about as late as I would want to do it. Probably would want to start up the couloir around 4 if not earlier. Never sunk past my ankles, although the crampons didn't bite as well as I would have liked. Bottom third of the couloir is pretty well melted out (see picture). Don't follow the footprints blindly, be prepared to make your own route. Some of the prints went the wrong way up the couloir and we could see them on the approach trying to figure out how to get up. Dead Dog won't be in much longer, so get up their quick!
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