Basic Alpine Climb - Dragontail Peak

Summited Saturday, May 28th.  Straight forward ascent with quick trail work to Colchuck Lake. 

Sun in the AM.  Overcast once at Culchuck Lake.  Cloud-clad summits from Colchuck col onward.  Snow showers on the descent back to the Lake.  Overcast most of the way down, with sun returning near the TH.

The trail is snow-free to Colchuck Lake.  After skirting the lake we strapped on crampons and made steady elevation gain to the col with snow soft enough for easy kick stepping.  We met up with another Mountaineers party heading up to Colchuck.   

Nothing uneventful ascending steep snow (perfect for kick-stepping) to Pandora's Box and scrambling the ridge to the summit.  Advice to begin scrambling 30 feet below the cornice at the top of Pandora's Box and to climbers left was spot on.  Class four scramble for 20 ft elevation gain didn't seem class four at all. 

After scrambling the ridge for a while we returned to snow to traverse below the false summit, then back on rock for more scrambling to the summit.  Descended from summit to snow field and traversed to Colchuck/Asgaard Pass.  Snow down to Colchuck/Asgaard Pass soft enough for plunge-stepping.  Easy route finding down Asgaard pass with descent marked with large cairns from the top of the pass back to snow, then remained on skiers right to avoid rock fall from Dragontail, the cliff band, and the creek hidden with who knows how much snow.

Straight forward trail work from the lake back to the TH with clouds dissipating to sunny/blue skies.