[chris]

Although Mount Ellinor is pretty standard, I thought I'd add a trip report in lieu of a long introduction, or something like that. I've written up a longer form of the trip, which can be seen at: http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett/local/ellinor/index.html I'll be brief here since I was long winded in the link. The road up to the lower trail head is in good shape and has very few potholes (in comparison to the access road to Staircase). No snow whatsoever. In fact, there isn't any snow on the trail until you reach the junction between the main trail and the Chute climbing route. Patches of hard snow appear here and there, but they were nothing to worry about, even in running shoes. There are one or two longer snow slopes, but even these were simple to climb. An ice axe might have been nice to have for safety, but it certainly wasn't necessary. A few people came up the chute, but I didn't find out what sort of shape it was in.