Huge salute to ALW Hiker and others for blazing the trail yesterday! I felt very spoiled today with their beautiful track. The temperature was quite cold at higher elevations, and everything had frozen. This meant that spikes were sufficient (and heavily recommended), and postholing was non-existent. HOWEVER, with the incoming system and warm weather, I'm going to guess that everything is going to turn to slop. Snowshoes will likely be needed again to smooth things out; don't be that person postholing and making it miserable for everyone. Since I am a bit salty that it is January 10, and I still haven't used my snowshoes yet this bizarro winter, I did put them on at the top and wore them down for a bit. 

Windy at the top. Also, be mindful that the fluffy snow tree bombs turned to ice bombs that could actually have considerable consequences. Thankfully, the really big ones missed me, but it's still something to keep in mind. Fair amount of traffic today, but people were friendly. I got started early (7 am) and had some quiet time at the summit!

Our party of four, plus one more who joined us partway up, headed out to Mount Washington on a sunny Friday. We were hoping to also do a loop around/over Change Peak, but our not-very-early start and the slow trail-breaking up top meant we only had time to do Mount Washington.

TRAILHEAD : No issues. The sign at the gate says it will be closed at dusk, though there were still several cars in the lot when I left at almost 5:00, and no sign of anyone coming to close it. The bathroom is clean and stocked! The Palouse-to-Cascades Trail is closed west of the Mount Washington Trail due to the slide from last month.

PEOPLE: We came across one other snowshoer who helped us break trail to the summit (thanks!), plus two more hikers who made it to the summit, plus two hikers who turned around at the Ollalie Trail, and one hiker who was going up as we were coming down. So about 11 people on the mountain today, nice.

TRAIL: The lower trail is rocky as usual. There are maybe half a dozen blowdowns on the trail below 3000'. All of them are pretty easy to get around, or have a reasonable detour. If one were so inclined, a medium-size trail saw (16") could probably take care of most of them. There is water on the trail just above the Great Wall junction, but this is not unusual, and it's easy to cross right now. Not much water at all on the trail in the basin at 3200', but that is probably the worst section in terms of branches and other brush crowding or on top of the trail. It's better now than when we got there, so that's something! There are more annoying sections a bit higher where it's hard to find the trail under the snow and bent branches, but the snowshoes help. Another foot or two of snow would help even more.  :)

SNOW: No snow at the bottom - it starts in earnest at about 3000'. About 2-3' of snow at the top. I HIGHLY recommend snowshoes right now - we had to break new trail from about 3500' up in heavy, wet snow. If you go without snowshoes, you are going to be post-holing the last mile of the trail, which tears up the route for other users. Five people with snowshoes made it to the top today, so we laid in a decent track, but it is not yet packed down enough to support booted travel above the Ollalie Trail junction at about 3400'.

We didn't see any avalanche warning signs anywhere - the slopes to look out for are at about 3200' and 3700'. There wasn't enough snow in the lower area to be of concern. Tons of snow bombs were falling from the trees all day, so the rain jackets were needed even though it was a sunny day.

The heavy snow had weighed branches down across the trail in dozens of places. Fortunately, we were able to clear most of them as we laid in our track, so it should be much better now until the next big storm.

For those heading to Change Peak, Ollalie Trail, or Great Wall Trail, know that there is no track laid in on any of those routes, so you can expect to need snowshoes and to be breaking trail the whole way. Same thing with the steep and sketchy trail up the north ridge. The snow at the lower part of Great Wall is not super deep, so you might get away without the snowshoes if you are just going up a short ways to check out the wall.

Road was pretty much snow free but when I got out of my car I could see small ice patches within the gravel so this could change soon.

The trail is in good condition besides a few downed trees but they were all pretty easy to get over/under.

As for the snow I used micro spikes but I think you could probably do it without them if you walked carefully enough, but there were a few sections where having spikes would make things just easier.

Great views on the summit today.

Enjoyable hike. Couple shallow water crossings. Few small trees across trail at points, nothing significant.Final third of the ascent will currently see well-packed singletrack. Did not require spikes, not even poles. Just a walking stick and waterproof foot and leg wear. (Would recommend poles if you are not sure-footed)

Visibility today was great!

Fantastic day on Mount Washington today as conditions were perfect!  Got to trailhead at 8 am.  Layered up in the parking lot and packed up snowshoes and microspikes.  Had gaiters on as well which always help with keeping feet warmer and dryer.  Started up the trail noticing a few small (<1 ft diameter) trees down in the first 2 miles.  First stream crossing had good rocks above the surface to use but still be careful as they can ice over.  It was close to freezing or slightly below on the ascent.  The snow started close to 2000 ft, first a crusting of ice/compact snow then the powder started in earnest close to 2600 ft.  It was compacted all the way to the summit and I’d say 6-18 inches up until the summit.  The “stream” area still had running water but it was so easy to stay dry (mostly snow/ powder in the vicinity).  Large steps were kicked into the snow on steep areas.  Only scant evidence of postholing  seen.  The rock traverses were completely snow covered and safe passage.  We easily booted all the way to the summit without snowshoes or spikes.  Had some time in the sun as we had 360 views at both the false and kind of 180 degrees at true summit (steep drop off there so be mindful).  Had lunch and summit treats at false summit then headed down.  Thought to use spikes but chose not to even though they would have assisted in the last 2 miles on the way down.  I’d say the biggest obstacle was the brushy branches near the trail that you needed to pay close attention to.  One of our group members hit a low lying spiky branch in the scalp causing a little laceration which was fine but it hurt.  The descent yielded no snow or water falling from the trees, no postholing or slush as the temps stayed low.  Saw a few people heading up as we were descending but really pretty quiet today.  Great outing with perfect conditions and friends!