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22 May 2026 - Conditions Report: Mt Humphreys NE Couloir & East Arete
May 26, 2026 3 min read
Staff member and guide Colin with a guide friend, Tyler Logan, continued his prep for an upcoming AMGA course by getting out to do the NE Couloir and East Arete on Mt Humphreys. Although the weather did not cooperate, they still had a great day and were able to collect a bunch of good information on the snow/trail conditions in the area around the Checkered Deamon basin and Longley Lake basins just east of Mt Humphreys!
Conditions Report:
Current As Of: 22 May 2026*
Activity During Report: hiking, moderate snow travel requiring crampons and ice axe, 5th class alpine rock climbing.
Conditions:
We were able to drive all the way up to here (37.27620, -118.63081) on the Forest Service roads which were in their standard rough condition. We started off from our parking spot at 0623 and took the trail northeast from the parking area along McGee Creek up to Longley Lake passing by the Mountain Light Wall and some beautiful boulders which are clearly receiving some attention from people. We encountered patches of snow as we approached Longley Lake with the consisten snowline found just passed Longley Lake per the photos below. By 0745, it was already soft down to 2-6" with the occasional posthole around rocks that had empty spaces underneath. The lake itself and creek were flowing without issue so you can save space on water storage and just fill up as needed from those sources.
We ended up choosing to take a different couloir just to climber's left of the NE couloir. Snow conditions remained consistent up through the top of the couloir which made for casual but, in some spots, toilsome effort to kick in consistent steps. The NE couloir itself appeared in similar condition with a section of exposed ice halfway up that looked like it may have required an ice screw or two.
Once at the top of the couloir, we chose to not traverse mixed consditions over to the Notch and took the rock ridge towards it instead thinking it might prove quicker and more consistent. It did not sadly and it was a slow go in mixed conditions (with some very firm snow at times) and scrambling up.
By the time we were almost at the notch, the possible weather system projected for the afternoon was clearly starting to arrive. Not wanting to chance anything, we bailed south by southeast down to the Humphreys/Checkered Demon basin and walked out with gorgeous views of the Kindergarten Gully and the namesake couloir on Checkered Demon. As we headed east back to our car with a soft rain/snow falling on us, the snowline was found around 10k-10.5k ft.
Not as successful of a day as we hoped, but a fun one nonetheless with a full-value alpine experience (and a very bumpy drive too lol).
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The walk in along McGee Creek
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Longley Lake and Mt Humphreys with the key couloirs visible
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Looking up at Humphreys from Longley Lake - we took the red dot couloir thinking they connected. Not true. Take the true NE couloir with the yellow dot.
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Looking back down at Longley Lake while approaching the couloir
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Slogging up the couloir
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Cheesing at the top of the couloir
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Tyler posing with the Notch and East Arete (and weather system) in the background jsut before bailing
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The walkout
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*All conditions reports are subject to change, increasingly so with each passing day since the observation(s) were made. They are provided as a tool to assist your adventuring, not to replace your own risk management and decision-making. No information in any trip or conditions report published by Eastside Sports should be considered definitive in its information or directive in its recommendation.
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