current Wind River Range conditions?

Somehow I don't think I have to worry about bugs…

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-109.68225&lat=43.15570

What I may need is snowshoes…

I would much rather deal with snow than bugs. Timing will be everything, but the longer range forecast shows a warming and drying trend.

Long-term trends don't help much when my hike starts Saturday… :)

Well, worst comes to worst we'll just do the CDT instead of the WRHR, I guess. Bummer.

Sorry, I leave a week from tomorrow hence the longer term look. If you take the CDT you can make it more interesting by staying on the Freemont trail as the Highline can be a bit mundane. You can also spice it up with some off trail along the way depending where you will be.

I went over Knapsack col West to East last Friday in sneakers. The cornice that builds on the East side is melted back far enough that it can be skirted to the North as easily as one can decend (or climb if you must go E to W) any pile of midsized/large talus. After some rock I got on mid/low angle suncupped melty snow for most of the rest of the drop to the head of Titcomb Basin. As you may know at the last hundred or so vertical feet on the West side there is a use trail that is fine gravel with scree on top. This can get slippery especially when frozen and descending. I abandoned that use trail partly and took the small loose talus on the side, finding it better footing.
This year I crossed Indian Pass on July 15 and again on the 19th. At that time I was very happy to have some crampons. I was up early and the snow was hard on both sides. The glacier was all snow on the way in but had begun to show some ice on the way out. I went to the head of the North Fork of Bull Lake Creek. The creeks were raging. I assume that you will be on the traditional high route (by the way, this route and its many variations has been around long before these guys recently tried to put a name on it). That is good for you if so as you will avoid a long sharp moraine. You still get a little bit. I have done that route through Alpine Lakes Pass in the late season perhaps 7 years ago South to North. Then the Knife Point Glacier was all hard rough surface ice with gravel on top and some flowing creeklets. The footing was reasonably good with no snow gear. I was wearing leather boots though sneakers would have been fine. I am not great with slopes but I'll say 30/35 degree max on that route, mostly less. The only snow encountered was on the south side of Alpine Lakes Pass and easily bypassed on rock. The route I choose not so far above the western shore of Upper Alpine Lake had a few moves on steep exposed wet ledge that I was not so happy with and when I go through there next time I will most likely use the route a bit higher that Pallister lines out. I know people use the east shore as well though to my recollection that side has more ledge vs talus to the West.
As to problem snow in the area in general it is gone.

Whoa, just looked at that linked forecast. All bets are off.

Thanks, Eric. That's exactly the info I was looking for.

But, yeah, I think your intel just got dated… :)

We're still going, albeit with changes to our packing lists. Eddie would go.

I just got back from the Winds and here is my update: there were a few Mosquitos at Shadow lake but not enough to be annoying. They seemed to go away once it got cooler in the evening. Crossed Illinois pass on 8/30 and there was no snow though that might have changed that night. On 8/31 crossed lizzard head plateau in blizzard like conditions with high winds and poor visibility There was probably a foot of snow in some places but just a couple of inches in others. I crossed it in trail runners with no problems. No snow in the cirque or on jackass pass.

My buddy and I just completed a south-to-north version of the Dixon/Wilson version of the WRHR with a couple extra days for fishing and waiting out weather built in. We started Saturday August 23rd and hiked out Sunday, August 31st. For future reference we were told in the Pinedale gear shop that this was about a 150% of normal snow year. Slow moving mosquitos were present but not particularly bothersome near melting snow fields at elevation, and the weather as a whole was pretty unsettled. When we were hiking out Green River Lakes at the end bugs were a non-issue. We were snowed or hailed on many times, but generally had breaks in the weather when we needed them to access the highest portions of the route. Here are a few photos of the snowiest sections of the route:

Pete ascending out of Alpine Lakes valley from the south: There was (soft) snow pretty much down to the level of the lake, but if you wanted to walk on rock that probably would have been an option for most of the pass. This valley was the trickiest part for us in terms of route finding and travel, but once we hit the base of the pass we made the climb in about 45 minutes.

Indian Pass from just north of/below Alpine Lakes pass: there were at least a few inches of soft snow on top of the ice which may have made travel without a traction device feasible. I was happy to have my microspikes.

Looking back toward lower Titcomb Basin while approaching Knapsack Col from the east:

nearing Knapsack Col:

As I mentioned above, we brought micro spikes and were happy to have them. However, I imagine some folks here could do this route in these conditions just fine without them. If these photos are not helpful at least I had a chance to show them off :)

take care,

Matt

edited for grammar.

Thanks guys. Very helpful. Leaving tomorrow and getting on the trail on Sunday. I'll post an update when I get back.