IssyJill and I had a great trip up Granite Mountain today. We took the regular summer trail up to the pond at 4900'. Then straight up the alternate trail to the SE ridge, to the summit.
High clouds today meant limited warming from the sun, but views were excellent including Tahoma, Stuart, Glacier, and the usual cohort of Alpine Lakes Wilderness Peaks. It was pretty breezy, but only along the summit ridge and at the top. Much more pleasant in the north basin.
We saw three hikers and one skier who made it to the summit, plus another hiker going up in the afternoon, and 3 or 4 hikers on the Pratt Lake Trail in the afternoon. We saw no footprints or signs of other humans on the back side, just some small cat tracks.
On the way back down we glissaded into the basin, from the flattish spot at around 5500'. This is a lot of fun, but I only recommend doing it if you have ice axes and you are aware of avalanche danger signs. We had two chutes to get down to the basin, then after walking through the basin, we also glissaded down the slope right above the pond at 4900'. This last one was a lot faster! I was never able to get up much speed but IssyJill was much quicker. :)
SNOW: There is no snow on the Pratt Lake Trail to the Granite Mountain junction. On the Granite Mountain Trail, intermittent snow starts at around 3000' but it's definitely hit or miss for a while. There is quite a bit starting at around 4000', but then it's a lot of dirt once you cross the final avalanche gully. The snow wasn't 100% coverage until reaching about 4500'.
In the avalanche gullies, there are some patches of snow here and there, and also some avalanche debris probably from the big storm a few weeks ago. However, looking up to the summit ridge there is very little snow cover on the south face. We had no concerns that a sufficient amount of snow could slide and end up in the chutes today - there's just not enough up there. This may change if a large amount of new snow falls again.
The back side was a different story, as there is obviously still a lot of snow up there, and some cornices along the ridge tops. With the low avy danger all the way up today, we were comfortable traversing through the basin and glissading down the back side. The snow up top is about 3-8" of powder (occasionally wind-blown) on top of a a very firm under layer. When glissading, we found the upper layer was not conducive to forming slabs or rollerballs. It ended up being a bit too much powder for glissading easily in many places, but it was pleasant for walking in.
The boulders on the SE ridge are NOT melted out yet. We were able to stay on snow the entire way from the pond up to the summit, other than maybe a half dozen steps on rock. At this time, the snow is quite firm and there are minimal melt holes next to the rocks. I expect that to change quickly over the next few weeks, unless we get some more snow and/or cold temperatures.
I marked this report as "Avalanche Danger", not because I think the danger is high (or even moderate) right now, but because I think it's wise to be avy aware on this trail at least until the SE ridge boulders are melted out.
The snow everywhere was quite firm today. It was a joy to walk in with our spikes, as we only sank in about 2-3" at most, and often not at all. Snowshoes today were completely unnecessary. Your mileage will vary as temps warm up and the snow softens!
BLOWDOWNS: There are about 8 blowdowns on the Pratt Lake Trail before the Granite Mountain junction. None are hard to get past, and none are larger than about 10" in diameter. Easily handled with a Katana or short crosscut saw, and all but one are also below the wilderness boundary. On the Granite Mountain Trail, there are only 4 or 5 blowdowns. All are below the last avy chute crossing at about 4100'. One of them is a decent size (maybe 16-18"), but the rest are pretty small and easily crossed.
We cleared what we could today, without a saw. There were lots of branches and other debris on the trail, but it's a lot better now, and should not be an impediment to anyone.
GEAR: We put on our spikes at about 4000' on the way up, and left them on until about 3800' on the way down. Crampons would have worked well above the pond at 4900', but we didn't bring them. We got out our ice axes as we started up the steep part of the ridge at about 5200'. We used them up to the summit, and then used them for glissading back down to the pond.
It is possible to reach the summit now without ice axes, but there are some very steep slopes right next to the boot path, so I recommend having an axe out for safety. You'll definitely want some kind of traction devices on your feet above the pond - either spikes or crampons should work fine.
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