My guest and I enjoyed good conditions on Mt Temple’s East Ridge today. Good steps in soft snow on the traverse to black towers that did not require crampons with todays warm temperatures but axes and boots were necessary. The black tower pitches were dry. The summit ridge was icy and thanks to visitor safety’s recent picture of the summit ridge we made sure we had steel crampons, sturdy boots, and a few extra screws to safely navigate the ridge. Our main concerns today were the potential for afternoon thunderstorms, and rockfall hazard due to melting snow patches in the black towers area.

We found running to top up water bottles on the traverse to the black towers.

I hope you’re all enjoying the summer.