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Is anyone out there interested in going off trail to the summit, or as close as possible to the summit, via the south drainage / avalanche chute? I hate to say avalanche chute, but that is what I am told it is. I have attempted it twice, but both times I was stopped due to deep snow; even with snow shoes.

I think the trick is to leave much earlier, while the snow is still hard. Perhaps even 4:30am. Both previous times I did not start on the trail, which starts at turn-off of Snow Bowl Rd., till after 7:30am. Three hours into it, the bright sun was already turning the snow soft and post-holing at 10,500ft was too exhausting for a valley guy.

This is definitely either snow shoe or crampon terrain. Take a look at the attached topo and both pages of the pdf. I have not gotten to the part that makes the turn to the left, but it looks like it gets much steeper. Possibly even ice axe kind of stuff.
If anyone has done this route before, I would appreciate any info.

Hi Misubri. Having done both Agassiz and Humphreys in winter via the easy snow shoe routes, I'd love to try some other approaches, but I don't feel qualified for routes with avalanche potential, full crampon/ice axe requirements, etc. I don't have an avalanche beacon, probe or shovel either. Have you checked out the Kachina Peaks Avalanche center? ( http://www.kachinapeaks.org/ ) They offer avalanche classes and they have a board for posting to find partners. You can also download a peaks map there, and it looks like the route you are proposing is in a potential avalanche path (#560), but I have no idea how active it could be. So much depends on the current snow conditions. Good luck, no doubt the Peaks in winter are super cool!

The upper part of that route is steep and loose, so you might modify it to a ridge line, but the lower stuff is fine. People ski/board that area all the time. I've hiked up and down it, and the slide potential there is probably very, very low. The dirt road is gated by Snowbowl Rd, so you'll need permits to park there. The same one you need to legally access the back country from Snowbowl Rd. Ironically, doing it from Lockett Meadow would require no permits. Go after a warm day and start really early and you'll probably have a lot of crusty or icy snow. The trouble with the lower area is the forest and fire from 2001. You're going to cross a mine field of down trees in spots. and the snow might be thin as much of the route is below 10,000'. The south face melts and settles quickly. I recommend going This week, and Monday or Tuesday is probably best given the snow and the predicted warming trend this week.

I have been to kachinapeaks.org, but I didn't know they had board for finding partners. I think after this weekend, if the weather clears and they get some good freezes, the slope should be fine. It would be interesting even to just do a couple hundred feet of the upper slope. I have been up the lower slope and as Jim_H says, it is not bad at all, maybe 30 degrees at most.