Courtright Conditions?

Curious if anyone has been up there this year, I know the road is open (according to the FS site) but not sure if it’s still got crazy snow levels. Any beta appreciated, hoping to get up there before the Fresno UTV crowd roars in for the summer. 

The road is not open. The FS website has not been updated since 2021

Road will not likely open until early July.

The Dinkey Creek gate is still closed, and may not open until June 16th. The road sustained heavy damage over the winter

Here is the link for the National Forest closure, which was extended until June 30th.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sierra/alerts-notices/?aid=80498

Edit - I added an access warning to the Courtright page. I will update it once the closure has been lifted

Oof, thank you for the heads up, I must have been looking at last year’s opening notice.

Thanks Cory, I appreciate the info. 

It's not the best year for Western Sierra climbing :(

I will update the access on all the Western Sierra climbing areas as the NF lifts it's closures and the roads open

Hey Cory, when you say the Dinkey Creek gate is closed, which gate are you referring to? Right out of Shaver, or at the beginning of Mckinley Grove?

Morning all, yes PG&E just canceled camp registrations for this season at Trapper and Mormont campground, bummer was going to have a big climbers party there this season!!! :-(

Hi Brian;

The gate at the turn-off to McKinley Grove road is still locked, and the FS has closed the road right at Shaver Lake where the bathrooms are just past the fire station. There is no gate there, but they have placed a barrier with "Road Closed" (although you could drive around this barrier and make it to the gate. 

I would advise not opening that gate (for those with the gate combo) as they are actively repairing the road. They say they may open the gate June 16th, but I am not sure when they will open the Courtright gate. There is still a lot of snow up there, for example Bald Mountain still has healthy snow coverage

Cool, thanks for the info, Cory.

If it does open up, please let me know!

Dinkey creek gate is supposed to open on Friday (June 16th). I did also hear it has been open periodically last week. 

However, apparently the Courtright gate will remain closed until July at least. 

Possibly not much access for climbing out of Wishon either (other than the small crags right near the CG) they are apparently doing spillway releases on the Wishon Dam, I'm not sure if it will be possible  to drive across the dam. Although it will probably pretty spectacular to see those spillway releases!

Road is open. Mosquitoes not yet bad yet.

Jim Malone wrote:

Road is open. Mosquitoes not yet bad yet.

Don't the mosquitoes get bad soon as the snow melts and generally dissipate as the summer goes on? You seem to imply they get worse. Just curious.

Was at Tiger Cage this past weekend. The mozzies were around, but not too terrible. However, do have to admit that my buddy played the sacrificial lamb between the two of us.