The storm over Veteran's Day (10-11 NOV) left a fair amount of snow on the ridge as well as the rest of the mountain, making route finding (and hold finding) a little more difficult. An axe and micro spikes are really helpful, and there were a couple spots where I considered crampons. This next storm should make things really interesting on the ridge itself. I'm little more than a novice mountaineer but, for what it's worth: around 14k some of the Class 3 (See Photos 28, 29 & 30) was buried and I found myself on more Class 4-type terrain.
Speaking of interesting: all of us tried and no one without chains made it up the access road. This next storm should all but preclude driving to the summer trailhead. I skinned up to the ridge from the bottom and changed over to climbing mode. That worked out really nicely; the last 3.5 miles back takes less than 30 minutes.
I found someone's Excalibur 9 Iron at about 13,700' in a gulley - if they want it back... Not kidding. It's hanging on the rocks.
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