Photos from this trip can be found here.
Thanks to the group from last Sunday and a group of three today, I was able to take advantage of their tracks and saved a ton of postholing time. Started hiking half past noon and the goal was to get up before sunset time.
The old service road from “Mt. Teneriffe Falls” sign to the end right before the trail turnoff had little snow or slush. More snow beyond that point to the falls, but trail had received plenty of foot traffic the last few days so snow was very well packed down. I used microspikes for traction and balance.
Even more snow beyond the falls, but the the two groups before me had done a great job breaking trail so I only postholed in a few places. Steeper sections had some ice on them but completely avoidable, and microspikes performed their duty well.
Footpath went all the way up to the top, stopped just a few feet below the typical summit arête formed during heavy snow season. I would have liked to get the views to the east, but the thought of cornices on other side of the arête that could potentially send me down the precipitous east face made it less appealing. Besides, I had been up enough times to enjoy the panoramic view.
Pups and I made it to the top one hour before sunset, and the mostly cloudy forecast had turned for the better by then. Barely any wind at the top, but a few hundred feet before getting out of tree line was a bit breezy. Good views to the west and parts of north and south, and we stayed to savor the views until sunset. More clouds in south Cascades so Rainier wasn’t visible.
Brought ice ax and snowshoes but never used them; spikes served their purpose!