danhelmstadter Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 (edited) Trip: Colchuck - NE couloir Date: 3/24/2010 Trip Report: I had contracted a nasty head cold on monday (presumably from drinking skunk beer), and since I didn't have any work lined up -- I was frustrated to be sick under blue skies in Leavenworth. I formed a plan to at least hike up to Colchuck lake with my skis -- leaving early Wensday morning, things however did not go as planned when I slept in - and didn't get started till 930. ^^^ I bought this book during my recent trip back east, and I had stowed it in a hidden pocket of my pack (my ski pack), and had completely forgot about it until I happened upon it - looking for my lip balm at Colchuck lake yesterday, the little 300pg bugger is surpriseingly heavy beacuse of the glossy - pictures-on-every-page print, and it was in my pack during the entierty of my recent triple couloir ski trip - no wonder the pack was so damn heavy! I was expecting to see new snow up high -- but there was none. I dragged ass up the glacier, the sun was hanging in the western sky, and I wondered if i'd have enough time -- but if worst came to worst - I could always downclimb. Topping out on the Glacier -- I climbed the icy SE slopes of Colchuck, then downclimbed an easy but thin and exposed summit rock area, to the entrance of the NE couloir. I sidestepped a little down the entrance becasue of very icy snow, then traveresed over to a more sheltered aspect where I found super hardwindpack covered with a thin skiff of soft snow. Slope angles here were in the 50dg range. approaching the crux area After some pleasant turns, I came upon the crux of the route -- the crux which I belive John Plotz and Will Terrano had aired in powder conditions a couple weeks ago, yesterday the landing zone was hard - slide for life - conditions, what a differance conditions can make... anyways, I decided my safest options was to downclimb -- which was actually quite tricky where I choose to (the curx is a wide rock band - of varying heights and steepnesses from left to right) I took my time -- thinking through every move -- makeing sure none felt too awkward, there was a inch or more of ice coating some of the tops of some rocks, and that helped a lot for quality pick placements, there was also quite a bit of hard snow (mixed with sugar) which yeilded good shaft placements -- I shuttled my pack down and held it with a ski anchor/webbing - then made the tricky moves down the 6 foot overhanging rock step. By the time I had negotiated the crux (upper couloir) it was dark... I put on my headlamp and skiied the couloir by way of headlamp light -- which was actually quite pleasant, and did not impeed skiing much at all, also -- there was quite a long stretch of quality powder mid couloir - it was awesome to be skiing steep pow in some wild couloir at night! - and feeling great about it. skiing down the lower glacier and moraine was fun -- although snow quality decreased dramatically through this portion. I met some slayers from Montana who were camping by the lake (I hope they get some good new snow the next few days!) I skiied the icy luge trail to within 2 miles (snow is melted past)of the gate at bridgecreek. A great day out -- and I think I stomped my cold way down too. Edited March 25, 2010 by danhelmstadter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsroll Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Core Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa_D Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I met some slayers from Montana who were camping by the lake (I hope they get some good new snow the next few days!) That's my husband Jon (from Seattle) w/ his good friend Olin (from Montana)! It looks like they'll get some on/off weather, but that will hopefully result in both good views and some good turns. Nice trip, Helmstadter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilchuck71 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Dan you are out of control! Right freaking on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 gnarly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannible Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Crushing the enchantments like it aint no thang. The bit about bringing the book along on all of your trips up there made me laugh. Training weight I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevino Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 How was the snow on the glacier? And so now there are a couple miles of road walking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telemarker Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Nice Dan!! Will and I had much softer snow on pur descent. That opening slope gets your attention quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danhelmstadter Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 Kevino - The glacier route was breakable crusty near the lake, then firm wind molested forms of various types above - easy to boot up and too slippry for skinning withought ski crampons. There was about 2 miles of dirt from the gate to snowline on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.