I slept near the trailhead the night before and my partners, Michael and Lauren, met me in the morning. After gearing up, we left the trailhead at 8:30am and it turns out to be a casual hike and creek crossing until we reach Wertz basin where the snow starts.

Freezing level was at about 7,000ft the night before, but it was clear skies all night so we weren’t sure what snow quality to expect.

Approaching Wertz Basin, just after the snow line started.

Since we were making good time, as snow was stiffer than we expected, we decided to keep our runners on until it got too bad. Luckily, a team of 6 mountaineers in crampons was ahead of us setting a boot pack, which made things much easier getting up Headlee Pass.

We took the coulior just lookers right of the right of the summer trail, since it was wider and the snow was better for boot packing.

Booting up Headlee Pass.

We caught up to the mountaineers at the top and also stopped to catch our breath. After a short break we worked down through the trees back to the summer trail, which turns out to be a very short and easy section.

From there it was back on the summer route as we traversed over to where the lake drains out. Perched on dry boulders, we switched out of our soaking wet runners and prepared to start skinning.

The festive shoe tree to help dry out for the walk out.

Skinned up towards Vesper was fairly chill, with only a couple steep kick turns, and incredible spring views. Having only seen them in summer, it was a pleasant change of scenery.

We eventually passed the mountaineers again about half way up Vesper, which was smooth sailing with a slightly steeper section for the summit block.

Going up Vesper Peak, the team of Mountaineers below.

We ended up reaching the summit at about the same time the mountaineers did and enjoyed the 360 views. After a short break we prepared for skiing back down as we had a little bit of a late start.

Vesper Peak summit, looking West.

The ski back down was quick, with only corn left at the top section of Vesper. We were able to return back to Headlee Pass without having to transition. From there went down the pass one at a time, as lots of wet loose was sluffing off.

After that, we skied out the avy debris, where a nice path had formed. At the edge of Wertz basin we put back on our partially dried out runners and hiked out hitting my skis on what seemed like every rock I stepped down off of.