Vesper Peak conditions??

I've never been up the mtn loop highway for skiing or hiking.... but I've heard Vesper is often a place for later season turns. Anything left up there? Is it a fun scramble even if we leave the skis at home?

thanks
Erik

Vesper's a fun scramble even without the skis and usually has a late season ribbon or two. Haven't seen any reports in a while, but you could always take the skis up to Headlee and leave them there if the upper mountain doesn't look good.

Here's a TR from NWHikers that includes a picture showing recent conditions on Vesper.

www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7999859

I skied vesper on July 7th. We made it to continuous snow at ~3500' in Wirtz Basin, short carry over Headlee Pass, and then continuous snow again to the summit. Vesper Lake basin still had great coverage. We were disappointed to find the Copper Glacier in rough shape with large glide cracks on the upper headwall and loads of rockfall/mud on the lower glacier-needless to say we skipped skiing the Copper and did a couple laps down to Vesper Lake from the summit. I'd imagine the snow line will be higher in Wirtz and the south-facing slope that you cross to get from Headlee Pass to Vesper Lake basin is melted out. I'm sure there's skiable lines left above the lake basin.

...sorry I meant July 7th, got my weekends confused.

Cool! thanks everyone - sounds worth checking out!

Worth noting (for future reference especially): In my opinion an ice axe or strong skiing ability is a good idea as long as Headlee Pass has significant snow. It requires an angled traverse with a horrible run out. The upper part of the mountain is much easier (I could probably ski it with cross country ski gear). I've never skied it, but I've hiked it, and there is fun glissading (standing or sitting) on the upper mountain.