6 of us climbed Mt Maude on Sunday. We camped Saturday night at Leroy Basin. Some snow at the basin, but not completely covered. I was able to pitch a tent not on snow, but most of my group set up tents on snow. Water is readily available at camp.
The first half of the trail to Maude is intermittent, sometimes obvious, sometimes cairns, sometimes none. Some bushwhacking. We had tracks and one of us was here in the summer, so we knew the general direction. Once reached the saddle, couldn't see any trail nor cairn. Just go down in knee deep snow, and cross the field, and regain elevation on the far side. Cornice on the ridge, so we had to down hike and cut across the steep slope and regain the ridge later. This might be the only real sketchy part of the entire hike.
Windy on the ridge, and the last up slope. Extremely windy once you crest the summit ridge (you cross again to the west side). We couldn't see a thing on the top, too cloudy.
Condition other than the trail: larches are turning nicely, some needles are falling, but some are still a bit green. The color should be good for at least another week. Huckleberry leaves are bright red, however, no berries to eat. Running water in the meadow. Snow was reasonably soft all the way to the top, made our footsteps more or less stable.
All of us had crampons, ice axes and helmet with us. However, none used crampons. Some used ice axes. Helmet is good for safety.
Saw a pair of ptarmigans.
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