I will try to do a more detailed report later, but this report will just be for trail conditions on the MWMT as of July 21st. The first water crossing .6 miles from the portal has genrated a lot of discussion, prompting people to use the old trail. The rocks were not covered by water in the morning or in the early evening (7:00 pm). You will not need the old trail in the morning in any event. If a particularly strong melt occurs in the afternoon, you can always double back to the old trail which is just a stone's trhow away from the water crossing that has concerned some folks in the last few weeks. Just above Mirror Lake as you prepare to leave it, lots of foot prints will lead up to the left--that is a wrong turn. Turn to the right. Someone scratched out an arrow to point the way. You have one non-frightening snow crossing just before you get to Trail Side Meadows. Consultation Lake is thawing. Trail Camp is mostly thawed--just sections around the Lake have appreciable snow. You will encounter some snow in the first few switchbacks and will encounter ice in the teens switchbacks up through switchback 23 where the spring is. The trail will be largely dry until you hit the snow at the cables, but you have a very comfortable margin of rock on the cables. However, to get to the cables, you have to scramble up about 8 feet of rock as one of the switchbacks is covered in snow. (Mind you, I was seeing all of this through my own eyes as well as the eyes and ability of my 13 year old son.) This scramble was not frightening for us, but might be for someone who has a fear of heights. You will have three snow crossings in the upper 90 switchbacks. The first two were in deep (2 foot) snow troughs, meaning if one were to slip, they would not likely slip down the chute. The last snow crossing, however (which was on the last switchback) was far more precarious. A slip here could mean you slip down the chute. In the mid-morning, the snow was slushy and microspikes did little to maintain traction. In fact, my 13 year old did slip here, with his legs slipping down the chute side, but he was able to stay on the trail. Treking poles with good sized snow cups will help you here. We did not encounter any snow on the Western side past Trail Crest. Unfortunately, we had to turn around with the hut in sight when we were at 13,760 feet with one mile to go when my son developed a headache and started a slight slur in his speech that Dex and a 1 hour rest couldn't fix. I can't tell you what conditions were like after that, but I couldn't see any ice patches left.
In my mind, the most precarious part of the hike is the 97th switchback. There is still a lot of snow there. Conditions were relatively warm, but it could be a a couple of weeks before that section thaws out.
Brent N
