New Year's Day summit attempt. TLDR: started too late in the day to summit.
Be mindful of black ice - we slid off FS-83 at the horseshoe over Swift Creek. We got ourselves unstuck, but on the way down, there was someone in a 4x4 pickup who wasn't so lucky. There were at least 4 other tracks of people who'd slid.
The hike itself was glorious. We had a bluebird day, about 35 degrees, just perfect. Groups coming down from an alpine start got turned around by ice. We had a late start at 10 am, and didn't experience the thick ice. However, we weren't quick enough to trust getting both up and down before everything solidified. We turned around at about 7000'. Sounded like successful bids all took off between 7 and 8 am.
We didn't need snow shoes in the least, however crampons were a must. The late afternoon snow got a little soft, but not soft enough for snowshoes.
There were a few glissade shoots already created, so we shot down them.
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