Snow Lakes, The Enchantments — Friday, May. 30, 2025

We departed from the Snow Lakes lot a little after 9 with some drizzling rain on Thursday May 29. Rain didn’t last long but temps were cool for our ascent through the switchbacks up to Nada Lake. We stopped there for lunch then continued on to Snow Lakes. A little after the Nada Dam, trail finding became more difficult and sporadic snow led to some postholing. We found a campsite at the far end of the lake. Very little snow around camp, toilets all available.

On Friday May 30, we went up into the core. We started off just before 8am and made our way up slabby rock. There was some snow in the shaded trees but it was mostly straightforward route finding by following cairns, footprints, and trails. We encountered our first substantial snow crossings around Vivianne falls, between 6400 and 6600ft. Lake Vivianne was still mostly frozen but could have been easily broken through. This is also where we encountered our first mountain goat and baby, both of which seemed more interested than aggressive.

We donned crampons and ice axes to get up what seemed like a steep hill after Lake Vivianne. Prusik peak looked incredible and we were jealous of a pair we saw climbing. We continued on past Leprechaun Lake, which was mostly frozen. About halfway between Leprechaun and Perfection, we encountered a snow bridge that looked recently melted out. We poked around for about 30 minutes to see if we could find an alternate crossing but when talking over risks with the group, decided we would turn around. However, we saw a couple through hikers coming from Colchuck the next day so it must be possible.

After lunch with views of Prusik, we made our way back down to camp.

On Saturday May 31 we hiked out the way we came and saw a mama and very new baby deer. A great trip with a great group!

Gear considerations: though we used crampons and ice axes in the snow, we think an experienced person could navigate with just microspikes. However, we can’t speak for the area beyond where we were in the Enchantments Core