Avalanche Gulch

Climbed Avalanche Gulch on Sunday, May 24th. Departed Helen Lake at around 1:45 am. Temperatures were quite warm on the 23rd, with the firm mostly firming up overnight. There was limited to no wind on the climb. We struggled to find a consistent bootpack as we climbed, often making small traverses across the mountain to find better bootpacks. There were a few sections that had very soft snow, making the climb more challenging. Once we reached about 11.5k feet we found the snow hardened much more consistently and made the climbing much easier. All the groups climbing around us chose to climb around the thumb rock before making their way up to Misery Hill. Misery Hill had little to no snow and was instead just a scree field. The trail was still well marked, and while we did experience some clouds rolling in that reduced visibility, it was overall easy to follow. Once we reached the top of Misery Hill, we found the snow was in the same condition as at around 11.5, mostly solid but still with inconsistent boot-pack trails. The Summit was completely free of snow. As we descended down the mountain in the early morning, we still had hard enough snow not to worry about slipping or sliding as we walked down towards Thumb Rock. Once reaching Thumb Rock, the snow had warmed enough to notice that with each step, the base was less solid, requiring much more awareness and consideration for each step down. At the top of Thumb Rock, looking downhill and right, you could see avalanche debris and the path it took down from Casaval Ridge (started at roughly 12.4k ft) down to a flatter section of Avy Gulch on the downhill climbers' right. This avalanche looked to have happened on a previous day, but as we could still see a large amount of the trail down it still looked somewhat fresh. As we continued lower down the mountain, the snow became mashed potatoes, with route selection not mattering; at this point, the snow was good for glissading.