South Early Winter Spire/South Arête

06/27/2015 Took a strong group of Intense Basic students on their first Mountaineers alpine rock climb. Left the Blue Lake TH at 5:10 AM, back at the TH at 3:40 PM.

There was a 10 foot section of snow on the approach, but it will likely be melted by the coming weekend. No crampons or ice axes necessary.

We were surprised to have the South Arete mostly alone for the day. There was one other strong and fast party simul climbing the route that we let pass on the whalesback. Two other parties who had climbed other routes descended our route and shared a couple of our rappels (one party asked politely, the other did not).