Petit Griffon in Oct?

I was thinking of a late season climb of Petit Griffon

Is there still snow on the approach?

Hiked out there last week to climb it. No snow on the approach at all. Also, the snow gulley had virtually no snow which turned it into a steep, sandy, and loose death gulley in our opinions. We could hear small rocks falling. There was a tiny bit of mandatory snow travel in the middle of the gulley but it looked patchy and shitty and we did not want to switch from shoes to crampons and back again...needless to say, after chugging all the way out there we decided it was best to turn back. I would be interested to hear what the gulley is like without the snow. Post a report if you go! Cheers

Hey Brooks - if you need a partner for this I'm down. This little guy has been on my tick list for a while. PM me if interested.

C, if you do it add a report to my webpage on SummitPost.

We climbed this last weekend, Oct 24th. What a beautiful route. There was no snow until about 11k and no real coverage until 12K. The snow in the couloir was 6-12inches, but largely unconsolidated and a little rocky in places. The first pitch of the climb is snowy in ledges and icy in the cracks; the smeary step around move currently much scarier than 5.6. After that the route is in glorious sun and a breeze.

The register hadn't seen an ascent since July; I bet it would be in good shape for the next few weeks barring a big storm.

Ryan