Brief trip report:
I slept Friday night May 3rd at the Baxter Pass trailhead (6035 ft) parking area. Met Greg Vernon at 8:00am and we started hiking at 8:30am Saturday morning. At 12:30pm we stopped and set up camp at 10,000 ft near the Summit Meadow area. We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon climbing the north snow chute that goes to Mount Mary Austin (13,048 ft). It got icy in the upper chute (we didn't take our crampons; we only took our ice axes) and was getting late too, so we decided to turn around. We only reached an altitude of approx 12,000 ft. While climbing this north chute, snow flurries began falling for a brief period of time. Got back to my camp, prepared dinner and went to bed by 8:00pm.
Woke up Sunday morning (May 5th), had breakfast and started hiking at 7:30am. Entered the bowl and took the first right-handed side, very wide snow chute on the Southeast face of Diamond Peak. On our way up, we encountered two other climbers from the Ukraine who were descending the Southeast snow chute. They said they came up via the Northeast couloir (class 3). Eventually, I reached the top of Diamond Peak (13,126 ft) at 11:02am. Greg Vernon soon followed. Great view to the west, especially of Mt. Clarence King. Stayed for 30 minutes at the summit celebrating "Cinco de Mayo." Was back to our camp at 1:30pm, broke camp and hiked out by 2:00pm. I reached my car parked at the Baxter Pass trailhead a few minutes after 4:00pm.