We arrived at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park At 7:20 AM on Saturday, 1/22. The lot was about 90% full at that time on this forecasted bluebird day. We hit the trail in microspikes and blew through the first 2-3 miles, pretty mellow, through the trees. Once we broke the treeline we followed the obvious trail towards a rocky ridge. The ridge began our real climb.
The trail was steep in parts and 99.99% snow covered. We eventually swapped to snowshoes as we started to sink in and posthole. The path was obvious, but definitely led up some steep terrain. MSR snowshoes worked, but most people had crampons.
We made it to the crater rim at about noon. Not too many people up there. We didn't try to make it to the true summit, no obvious trail and the same views. Speaking of views, we had amazing weather, no clouds, no wind, and views from Baker to Jefferson.
Coming down, we swapped to microspikes for more maneuverability. Again, I wish I had crampons. The snow softened considerably in the afternoon, to all the skiers delight. We had a great time glissading down the mountain. Pro tip, wear a trash bag to shield your pants and help you slide better. We swapped back to snowshoes towards the bottom as the snow lost all stability and everyone was postholing.
Overall, conditions were great. A bit icey in the morning, but definitely softening up now. I'd say ice axe and microspikes are necessary at a minimum to make it to the crater rim. Bring snowshoes if you're going Sunday as you will be postholing without. Bring Crampons if you got them. The snow softened for us, but there is one section that I would not do again with microspikes if there was ice... a fall would've resulted in a long, steep slide.
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