Mount Index
This rugged peak is impossible to miss on a clear day while driving westward on Highway 2. Its intimidating pillars of granite, rising thousands of feet into the air, are complemented by the beautiful Lake Serene at its base. A visit during the winter months is guaranteed to impress with frequent avalanches of snow roaring down its icy walls. Mount Index actually consists of three distinct summits and this blog post is about reaching the tallest but easiest of the three.
Cassondra and I set out to climb it on May 20th. It was a rather hot day, with summit temps forecast at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Ideally you want the temperatures cool for this climb because the upper route faces south east and gets baked by the sun throughout the day. We had attempted Index in April of last year but when the sun hit the upper mountain we watched avalanche after avalanche cascade down the mountain. It...