Conditions on Blanca as of Friday 9/25 are similar to the previous report with a few caveats. The trail leading up to the saddle is 100% clear of snow and, looking up from there, the snow looks spotty and avoidable. But snow is still on the trail and retained in crevices that are not getting much sun. I found the summit area to be "mentally taxing", not necessarily technically difficult. For instance, I post-holed once, unexpectedly, about 8 inches, but the snow held fine at 11am. There were specifically two areas where I encountered snow that forced me to stop and make decisions, mainly because a slip would have been somewhat exposed. But I did not use traction and, generally speaking, broke trail toward hiker's right of the ridge when necessary (remains Class 2/3 with relatively low exposure). Then I made the Class 3 traverse from Blanca to Ellingwood -- I found no snow whatsoever and the traverse is well-cairned. Both summits to myself yesterday -- I saw one other group.
Ellingwood side of the valley is dry / getting plenty of sun while the Northwest face of the Blanca-Little Bear ridge appears to be holding some significant snow. The traverse looked dry to me and I heard from some folks back at Lake Como that at least one group did the traverse successfully on Thursday. Will post photos.
     
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