I hiked the Mountaineers' Route on Sunday 7/30/17. Descended the trail. Notes below:
- Water crossings up: Was able to get through all of them without getting my shoes wet.
- Scramble up to Iceberg lake: there was a section of approximately 300 meters covered in snow where we put on crampons.
- Chute: The chute is filled with snow but I was able to avoid most of it by scrambling up the class 3 section on the left side. From approximately 13.5k to 13.9k ft (my estimate) you needed to ascend the snow field. The snow was super soft and a little loose. I used hiking poles and crampons. The poles were super helpful but the crampons didn't help too much. My hiking partner ended up using poles without crampons. The exposure down the chute made me a little nervous but the snow was so soft you wouldn't slip very far. Once I reached the end of the snow patch, there was a group of five which safely glissaded down the chute.
- Final 400: There is a large patch of snow in the middle. I ended up going to the right and it was a great class 3 section with perhaps one or two class 4 moves.
- Trail descent: Other than taking the short cut from the summit plateau down the talus to the trail, the trail was clear. There was a small section near Outpost Camp that was completely submerged for about 10-15 steps.
- Link to the Strava here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1109815001/overview
