Hey Everybody. So my wife and I are scheduled for a day hike up the main trail this Sunday 06/19/11. This will be our first time on the mountain and we would not consider ourselves experienced snow hikers/climbers. Actually we have found ourselves to be more versed in desert backpacking with eight Spring time trips in as many years to the Grand Canyon ranging anywhere from 3 to 7 days backpacking.
That being said, we do not have cramp-ons or Ice axes and have decided that we will not attempt to summit this weekend. Instead we are hoping to make it to Trail Camp and back. Is this possible to do without cramp-ons? We will have trekking poles and yaktrax with us in case the trail is icy, but I don't necessarily trust them on an icy unbeaten downhill slope.
We may also decide to skip the 2-3am start time since we will be cutting about a third of the mileage out of our hike. Although we were looking forward to a nice full(ish) moon hike.
Any thoughts on making it to Trail Camp w/o cramp-ons would be helpful. Thanks!!