Trip: Argonaut - NE Couloir
Date: 1/24/2009
Trip Report:Kevin and I headed up on Friday to attempt the NE Couloir on Argonaut. We hiked in to the boggy marsh past the Stuart/Colchuck trail junction, where we camped for the night. I managed a few hours of good sleep, but Kevin wasn't so fortunate: he was nursing a sore wrist from a lead fall on a WI 1 (walking ice) pitch on the road.
Our plan was to start out at first light on Saturday morning, so as to avoid the navigation errors in the dark that had ruined previous attempts. We easily found our way to the talus slope on the north side of Argonaut, and commenced slogging. Almost every possible avy slope in the Stuarts has slid in the past month, and all the sunshine and freeze thaw of the past couple weeks turned the avy debris into what is best described as snow talus. The going was frustrating and slow.
The snow in the couloir was optimal for kicking steps, especially considering the time of year. The couloir was pretty well filled in, but did have a couple exposed rock steps and one short step of alpine ice. We set up a belay for the ice step, but in retrospect it was probably wasn't necessary. By the time we were midway up the gully, a thick cloud cover was developing. We could see that the summit of Cashmere was already covered, and when we reached the top of the gully the summits of Colchuck and Argonaut were also socked in. It was already 3 PM, so we were running out of daylight for the descent. A summit covered in clouds made the decision easy- we skipped the summit and started down.
We made one 25 meter rap into a gully to the north of the main gully on Argonaut's east side, then downclimbed and traversed the snow to the ridge between Argonaut and Colchuck. We found the descent gully we had spotted from below, and downclimbed some 3rd/4th class rock before reaching snow. By the time we were a third of the way down the talus slope, we had to break out headlamps. Descending the snow talus was painful and arduous, but we were soon back on our tracks to our tent. After packing up camp, we hoofed it back to the cars. No need to say much about the dreadful monotony of walking down the road by the light of a fading headlamp- it just sucked.
After all that, we both agreed that the route was excellent and quite fun.
The basin on the north side of Argonaut
The NE Couloir starts in the upper right of this photo, and our descent gully is in the upper left
Looking north at the developing cloud cover
Kevin on the first mixed step, negotiating the tricky bear-hug move
The majority of the climbing is kicking steps up 45+ degree snow
The alpine ice step
Kevin at our high point in the couloir
Of course the clouds lift a bit as we're heading down! We rapped from the second notch from the left on the minor ridge of spires in the middle of this pic
Gear Notes:minimal rock rack, a couple stubby screws, tools and crampons, and a 50m rope
Approach Notes:The snow all the way to the boggy marsh is very hard, and we managed the entire trip with no flotation. A couple parties have gone in to Stuart, so there is now a decent path leading up Mountaineers Creek.
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