Summer Ski-mountaineering

Mountain Conditions Report

<p>Despite a lack of overnight freeze at road level, we decided to give Hector a try anyway. </p> <p>It was a 'challenging' slog up to the waterfalls pitch in near-isothermal snow. There isn't much left to avalanche overhead, and the waterfalls are certainly filled with water and not snow. We hiked the summer access trail to circumvent them. </p> <p>Once into the hanging valley, travel improved substantially with skis-on travel all the way to the summit col. Glacier HS is surprisingly good with 230+ cm probed in most spots. The glacier has better coverage than it did when I was last up there five weeks ago. </p> <p>We were back at the car at 13:00 and that certainly wasn't too early today.</p>