dylan_taylor Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Trip: Colfax peak - Cosley/Houston Route Date: 10/30/2007 Trip Report: Well, the ice is in in a few places. Yesterday Kurt and I headed up to Baker and climbed the Cosley/Houston route on Colfax peak. The route is a ton of fun, as stated on past trip reports. Most folks who are reasonably comfortable on ice would probably consider the route to be in good nick right now. We found it a little thin, and we thought that the two crux pillars felt a bit hard and pumpy - but maybe thats because it is only October, and its been a while since any of us led an ice pitch. The route below (on the right). Polish route (on left) is still not touching down: The glacier is in suprisingly good shape for late October. It seems uncommon to have such good coverage up high this time of year while simultaneously having the road open to the trailhead. The wind associated with heavy precip from the recent October storm activity seems to have helped to mechanically harden the snow pack, and to pack snow into the crevasses. Thus bridging is pretty solid right now. However, this is the season for weak crevasse bridges, etc, and Kurt and I roped up with this caution in mind (unlike a few other folks we saw up on the Coleman yesterday). Enjoy the great travel and skiing conditions, but use prudence. Travel conditions were great. No post-holing, good cramponing all the way from the hogsback. We walked, but some folks were on skiis. Not sure what they were up to though, we last saw them trudging up the Roman Wall with 30 minutes of light left... We departed the car at 5:45am, and arrived at the route at about 8:45 or 9:00am. We were on the summit at 3:00pm and back to the car at 6:15pm. We spent a bit of time on the cruxes but otherwise our times seemed average given the conditions. The first pitch is low-angle rambly ice (about 165') and stubby screws were the only ones that worked. The second pitch is the first crux: a hanging curtain that is quite steep right now, as it has a lot more room to grow. It is drippy on the right side. There are a few scary hanging daggers and I regretted my choice of belay location as Kurt liberated copious amounts of ice above. However, there isn't much ice available there, and not much rock pro either. Thankfully, Kurt chose not to send the dangling dagger of death down upon me, and used it as a butt-scum instead, in order to cop a rest. He ended up hauling the pack (hey! its still early season!) in order to fit comfortably in the crux. The ice seemed a bit brittle but at least it will take full length screws. Both of us found the crux pitch short but difficult - Hard to swing when you are trying to half chimney within a few chandeliers. WI4 seems soft for a grade but, like I said, it is still a little early in the season... The 3rd pitch is a 60m ramble up fun, perfect 55-60 degree neve (bring pickets for belays - they are bomber). For rock gear we were only able to use a baby angle, and a #10 and #11 stopper. A pink tricam or yellow TCU could have come in handy but we didn't have them. Here is Kurt climbing with perfect pieds troisième and piolet appui. The fourth pitch was the 2nd crux, and was darned near vertical. It had lots of hollow ice so some of the screw placements sucked. I was pumped stupid by the top of it, and stopping to place 4 or so screws on the ice "boulder problem" didn't do much for my ego either. Maybe Kurt has pics... The fifth and/or 6th pitches are either two 200' rope stretching ramblers, or one bit of moderate angle simu-climbing. Pickets came in handy here. The last 20 feet popped us out into the sunshine, which was a nice reward for repeatedly getting the barfies on all the lower pitches... The views from any summit in the Black Buttes are wicked. The exposure is wild, and whenever I look over at Lincoln I fantasize about having the magical powers to zap it into granite overnight (Even gluing the choss together would be a exciting improvement...) It is also nice to get a new angle of view for Mt Baker. The route will probably get better by the day, until the first sustained snowfall of the season knocks the easy (driving) approach out of shape. And, you really can't beat a 1000-foot ice route with a three hour approach on easy trails, good snow, and no bushwhacking. Enjoy it while it lasts... Gear Notes: 1 60m rope, 8 or so screws depending on fear threshold, two large stoppers, one baby angle, pink tricam, and a nice, warm jacket. Approach Notes: Drive to trailhead. Glacier in good shape, snow in good shape, trail in good shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Radical!! Looks steep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Looks great guys! Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlympicMtnBoy Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Nice, I would have been there if my shoulder was feeling better. Yer makin me jealous. :-) - OMB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 It was a great day and a superb route indeed! October is an awesome month -- climbing splitters at Index one day and then true water ice two days later! A note to all of the weekend's potential suitors--climbing under another party would surely lead to being struck by party induced icefall, so be cautious. Also, the route is circa 400m, not 600' as reported in Washington Ice. Dylan on the first pitch Following the second pitch Higher on pitch 2 Tackling the second ice pitch (pitch 4) Da summit view Dylan thinking he's still in France. come on man, these things don't work in the Cascades! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylan_taylor Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 nice! Thanks kurt. Can't help my phone addiction... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmy_t Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 nice nice nice. nice work guys. what's the crevasse situation below the saddle? you said skiable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsroll Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 wow..all I can say is wow. Way to get out and get some. Guess it is time to get off my lazy but and do some climbing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericb Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 damn...I need to learn how to ice climb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 nice nice nice. nice work guys. what's the crevasse situation below the saddle? you said skiable? a couple of slots still require a zigzag, but we didn't poke anything on foot. easy enough navigation if you point 'em downhill near your uptrack. variable conditions though, from knee deep powder to crunchy neve-ish stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbb Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 nice work gents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 right on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 Way to get out early and bring back great pics for us office poges. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa_D Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 looks like a beautiful day.. makes me excited to try ice climbing this winter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Simpkins Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Poulton Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwalker Posted November 4, 2007 Share Posted November 4, 2007 Kurt and Dylan looked like they had a good time so my partner and I headed up on Friday Nov. 2 - the weather was great on the approach. It deteriorated later... Conditions were the same I think - polish route still looks pretty thin. Found a good sheltered rock belay at top of the first pitch on the left rather than the right. Second pitch is still fat. crappy belay at top of the 3rd pitch - only had one picket. we simul climbed the last two pitches - it felt solid and we found a few spots for screws and a few knife blades. Topping out: The storm rolled in just as we were topping out and we had an epic walk off in a white out. Not sure if we were off route or what but we had to front point down numerous pitches. Ended up rapping the last pitch before hitting the saddle. Spent a couple of hours lost wandering around the glacier in the storm - finally made it back to the car around 7:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 nice work! You were definately off route on the descent, but it would be kind of tricky in a storm without having done it before. from the summit, you walk south-ish down, then left & down on the crest, then up over a false summit/gendarme on it's right side. Continue down the ridge crest for a while, then drop onto the right side of the ridge (the deming side) via a narrow chute, from there it's easy walking to the saddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Nice job guys...has anyone been up to see how much snowfall was deposited in the area during the last couple of days? NOAA predictions seemed to vary qute a bit from 4-14"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 snowline has moved uphill significantly in the last 2 days with the warm temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderfour Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 I was on the Thunder Glacier on Sunday. No new snow, just shitty icy skiing. Perfect climbing conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylan_taylor Posted November 6, 2007 Author Share Posted November 6, 2007 (edited) :tup:Nice work guys! Good choice of belay location below pitch 2. Wish I had looked left instead of right. Way to get your money's worth out of it on a nice, stormy friday evening. Edited November 6, 2007 by dylan_taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken4ord Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Damn another route or I should say couple of routes to add to the list if I ever make it back to PNW during the winter. Both of those climbs (C/H and Polish) look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken4ord Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 So what is that thin ice off to the right of the C/H Route? Is that anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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