Long story short, I summited Oval peak with my wife June 15th. The route: 99% off trail, via Scaffold Ridge, descending to the basin N of Oval, then summiting Oval via the North Ridge.
Snow: One weird, 20 foot wide, 4 foot deep snowpack patch on the Scaffold ridge at around 7200 feet. Then it disappeared, and it was not until 8000 feet on the North side of Oval that we encountered snowfields.
The snow was very compact and with our current abnormally cold weather conditions for this trip, it refroze higher up. My wife put on crampons, and I kept my trail runners on. As long as one sticks to the rocky W side of the N ridge going up, tennis shoes are fine (YMMV).
The view from the summit offered great insight into the snow conditions of the Sawtooths. Mostly snow-free everywhere until 7000 ft. N facing basins still have solid snowpack, while ridges appear snow free just about everywhere. Some 7000ft lakes still have ice on them. Likely another three weeks until they are all snow free. It is indeed still a transition season for this area, but I feel confident that the skis and snowshoes should still be left at home (unless you want to traverse across a ton of basins).
Also, I should add that the ridge was an awesome scramble. I do have a high exposure tolerance, but I thought it was very chill.
We returned to the Oval Creek trail via a truly foul bushwack. Is there a good way to return to this trail from the peak?
This country is epic.
Comments
yadwick on Oval Peak
Where did you start/end at for this? Looks like a fun time.
Posted by:
yadwick on Jun 27, 2024 09:01 AM
Kmino on Oval Peak
From my front door, which is on Buttermilk Creek
Posted by:
Kmino on Jun 27, 2024 01:16 PM
yadwick on Oval Peak
That's awesome, i was thinking about gaining the ridge above westfork buttermilk and taking it to scaffold peak then traversing over to oval, but am unsure of the ridge connecting oval and scaffold and the burn impacts up that way, thoughts?
Posted by:
yadwick on Jun 27, 2024 01:28 PM
Kmino on Oval Peak
It goes, 100%. Gain the ridge above W. Buttermilk, get onto the old and abandoned forest road that runs parallel to the ridge, then leave the trail and gain the ridge to Scaffold, or skirt it on the S side. At the next saddle, cross W,NW over to the burnt up basin N of Oval, containing the Duffy lakes. Gain the due N ridge of Oval, and follow it all the way to the summit. I consider it a Class 3, but I found it to be incredibly simple and reasonable.
You can rock hop all the way to the summit just about. I did it in tennis shoes already, weeks ago now.
Best of luck. It is a great route that will provide good cross-country experience.
Posted by:
Kmino on Jun 27, 2024 03:31 PM