[adam]

I don't have time to write much, and my pictures aren't any better than any others in fall, so here's the quick version: Went in and out via aasgard, first night at colchuck lake, second at tranquil lake (upper enchantments). No snow anywhere-- trail totally dry. Clouds sunday night, but no rain. Larches are beautiful, but past peak, as they would say in new england. 50-100% needles dropped, depending on location. Wandered down through the lower basin which I'd never been to before-- if you're a lame-o like me and have only poked around aasgard before heading down, take the time to go lower! Regarding dragontail: It's icy. I bypassed the crevasses between the lower and upper glaciers on rock, then followed nice steps up a chute of consolidated snow. Unfortunately, these ran into hard ice, then traversed climbers left before going up to the saddle. While this would have been easy enough to do, it would have meant going right above un-self-arrestable ice chutes, so I backed off. Once away from the glacier, I realized that if I had started climbers left, I probably could have gone all the way up a snow chute. The snow isn't the greatest for self arresting, but it seemed possible, and the crampons got traction, which is more than I could say for the blue ice. Steel crampons a must, ice screws and rope if you're timid, and if you have an ice tool, it's probably worth the weight to carry it up. But I think one of those left chutes would go with just an axe and crampons. Or just wait til spring, and spend the time walking around the lakes instead. But it's still fall up there-- so go enjoy it.