It ended up being the coldest I have been up there, reports said 9 degrees F at the top, my thermometer only said 24F, which wasn't really as cold as I felt (wind).
They kept up just fine, but suffered from being 'undergeared'. One of them interpreted my "no jeans, something as water repellent as possible" as jean shorts and a bathing suit, luckily I had extra pants. The other interpreted my, "wear water proof shoes or comfortable boots" as something that looked like this http://www.karmaloop.com/product/The-AO ... goduxYAgw , note the slick bottoms. They worked fine until we hit any small amount of ice. He wore my crampons the entire time.
These guys are smart top-of-the-class students, and have been hiking/backpacking before, and the clothes they brought would have been perfectly fine in the summer time. But I mention all this because if you bring friends up for their first experience like this, I realized how important it is to be very careful about what you allow them to bring, and to bring your extra gear for them to use.
We went up the Skit Hut trail, and went up the ridge to the left of the bowl. 90% of the people we saw all day were headed up the bowl, and equipped to do so, and it looked like great conditions for it.
Heading up the ridge there was a few feet of snow, but the trail is currently well packed down, so there really wasn't a need for snowshoes or postholing. Crampons are nice in many areas, but not necessary up the ridge, as long as it stays as cold as it's been.
Dogs at the ski hut.
We summitted at 12:40, and left the car at 8am, so not too bad for timing. When we got to the top it was completely deserted, which surprised me, after seeing so many people on their way up the bowl.
My old students at the summit.
Me on the summit.
Descending was very chilly (my hands actually hurt, with gloves and liners on). The snow was in great condition to glissade down lots of spots on the way down the ridge line. We actually got going pretty fast in some spots.
Once we got ridge, walking across the bottom of the bowl, we ran in to a guy who was looking for his friend. Apparently he and his 'first timer' friend separated on their way up, the lost friend should have summitted around 12:30, we didnt see him, and as of 3pm the friend was missing. We offered help and some advice and the guy said he was alright for now. I am curious about how that all turned out. I was glad to see this morning there aren't any missing person posts.
All in all, great trip, awesome snow conditions.
