Climbed Stairway to Heaven in Eureka with 2 clients today. Nice job Ari and Alex!! Forgot the camera, so no pictures. It looked like it was going to dump snow all day, but only a few flurries actually fell. It was very windy with gusts in the 40 – 50 mph range. The climb is in great condition. Sticky, though a bit picked out in the path of least resistance. You can still make it WI 4 by climbing out of “the path”. Depending upon how weather and temperatures trend during the next couple of weeks it could still be in good condition 2 weeks from now or not. Certainly showing signs of pronounced melting on most of the climb from the recent warm temps.
Other climbs in the area like Goldrush appear to be out of condition, or at least like you’d have to climb most of the 1st pitch on rock. Whorehouse and Highway 66 are still looking good.
Transitional snowpack right now. If it snows at all tonight or tomorrow I’d expect a lot of storm snow avalanche activity, in large part due to poor bonding with the snow surface. Keep a good eye on storm totals and wind speeds and direction if you’re planning to head to Eureka this weekend.
ND
