Snow level about 4000 feet. Doable even without micro spikes but it is easy to lose the trail so gps and map handy for the final push (and more specifically the return trip). 

After deciding to bail on a Mt. Ellinor climb plan due to the heat wave, we let ourselves sleep in and set up Mt. Rose around 9:45 AM. Trail is lovely up through the start of the lollipop loop/ Horse Camp — snow is melted out through there. Shortly after we took the left / clockwise rotation though the fun started. On the left side there was quickly a sketchy creek crossing where snow bridges are melting fast. I think I also went in one other hole. It was maybe noon ish at this point. But aside from that, left side was actually pretty ok. The real problems were on the climbers’ right looking up, which we took going down to complete the loop. The trail becomes very difficult to follow as many fewer people seem to have gone that way, and the postholing / tree well / sketchy snow bridge situation was rampant around 1PM. At one point I was in a tree well to my chest. Lost count of how many times I scraped my bare legs on snow going into holes. It was brutal. Eventually we did find trail markers again and get out of the snow shortly before rejoining the other side of the loop, but I’ll be honest that I was getting a bit worried about us for a minute there. All told, our round trip was an outrageous 7 hours due to all the hole falls and routefinding.

Don’t be stupid like me. 1. Start early, for real, and 2. Take the shorter side of the loop both directions.

I’m sure much more will be melted out soon and this will all be moot, but for the next few days it’s gonna be a minefield for other lazy people like us who hit the top at midday.

Took my annual spring training trip to Mt. Rose today. Arrived at the trailhead at 8 and there was only one other car there. The portable toilet was out of paper and in pretty dire need of being emptied.

Saw one trillium in bloom towards the start but the rest need a little more time. I did find some Calypso orchids (fairy slippers) which are always so beautiful to see. Heard a grouse in the usual spot near where the trail crosses into the Skykomish Wilderness, and heard some varied thushes up in the snowy forest. I only ran into one other hiker all day - sure beats the crowds at Si last week and listening to the waterfalls instead of traffic is always a bonus!

I chose the clockwise (left) side of the split from Horse Camp at first. Snow starts a little ways past that point and fairly quickly gets deep with lots of holes. Since the trail is narrow and steep I got tired of trying to dodge the holes and headed back down to try the other direction. I've never hiked the right side of the loop and was pleasantly surprised by the wider and easier trail. The trail is well marked with orange diamonds on trees and was never hard to follow. There are a few stream crossings but nothing too tough. 

Snow became consistent on the trail after a few hundred feet of elevation and was at least several feet deep towards the top. Mostly fairly solid but every once in a while I would posthole to my knee or thigh. I ended up turning back shortly after the trail heads west toward the summit (maybe about 1/2 mile before the end?) since I had lost time on the backtracking and had to head home. Looks like getting to the summit would be doable this way but I can't say for sure. 

Even without the summit views it was a great day our in the woods!

Hiked 7am to 11:30. Made the summit in 2hrs-10.  The trail to Horse Camp is in good shape. Snow begins around 3,250’. From that point is solid snow in all but a few spots. 

I kicked the snow bridge down where it crosses the creek. Just take careful steps. Also take careful steps anywhere you walk close to obvious meltouts. 

the snow was a mix of soft and firm. Softer as the morning warmed. A couple spots on the final summit push are melted, as well as the summit block. 

be prepared for snow travel. The boot path in snow is not always immediately obvious but as more people travel and the weather warms it should get beat down again. 

A more thorough report on my blog 

explorerron.com

Go right at Horse camp. I went left. Snow started around 3230 feet. I encountered the collapsing snowbridge around 3620. There may be some other way around it further down, but I didn't check it out. I ended up pulling out my ice axe and climbing out of the drainage onto the upper slopes to avoid the snowbridge altogether, but the route I followed had some steep soft snow intermixed with mossy cliffs and I didn't want to downclimb that. I ended up traversing over to the other side of the loop (the right side coming from Horse Camp) and descended down that. Both of the stream crossings on thatv side are at lower elevations and therefore clear of snow.