SemoreJugs

More sadness and loss. Thats three experienced middle aged men claimed by the snow in the I-90 corridor in the last few weeks. The most significant commonality is that they all died with no one around them, alone. Stay together folks and have an agreed upon plan for a rendezvous point (especially in the cold winter) in case a separation does occur, snowshoeing, skiing, whatever. I am by no means judging the man nor his groups' decisions because I was not there, and I have done similar things myself. Hopefully this is the last death for a long while. RIP Doug.

Thanks for the write-up and conditions beta!

...Last weekend was probably the busiest day of the year (maybe ever?) since permit season begins today. I was just one of the ungodly horde. Shit, we had 4 hours of chilling time at belays while waiting for slower parties to move their ass on Prusik. Our fault for not getting out of camp 1 hour earlier. The odds were highly in favor of someone getting served in the Enchantments this weekend.

As we were descending Asgaard, we started hearing frequent shouts echoing in the valley around 9:15 PM. At 10 PM, I talked to a guy tenting on one of the boulders on the south side of Colchuk. He pointed out the fixed light suspended maybe 500? feet above the lake around CBR. It was too dark to tell exactly where he was located but I circled his approximate area in yellow on the attached pic. Maybe he descended the gully in the middle of the circle, and just took a good tumble. The eyewitness said the injured climber had not moved for hours. Apparently a few parties were able to communicate and people went down to alert S&R. According to the news report, the injured climber activated his SPOT Beacon. We heard the helicopter around 12:30 as we hit the parking lot and the S&R ground team was hoofing it up the trail at the same time. Hell of a time for a high-angle rescue. Those S&R helicopter teams are about as badass as it gets in my IMHO. Hopefully our brother recovers well.

I really hope it stays as it is currently. In August 2009, I found it half as crowded as Pilchuk on a sunny weekend day. And its cool to have a better chance at snagging a night in the lookout hut. Great access is usually, but not always a great thing in my book. There are more deserving places to put in road maintenance.

Thanks for the update on the conditions up there. I thought maybe Colchuck would be melting out by now with the lack of snow. Hoping for some melt around Viviane by Memorial Day. I guess this area got more moisture and cold than the rest of our state did!

Congrats on getting in and then getting the F out of there with everything intact! I really enjoyed this trip report and your convincingly honest telling. I'm curious about this German styled ice-tool anchor. It was a deadman or picket style kind of thing? And you were willing to jug on it? Fuck. Obviously it was solid enough, but what did it look like when you found it? I was there mid December just trekking around with a non-climber friend. I felt weird not climbing anything in such a world-class destination, but also glad that I wasn't as peaks of this ilk are way beyond my physical skills and mental fitness. We had "good" weather for almost an entire month in Patagonia. That meaning mostly sunny days and a lack of strong rain storms. But the wind was ever present and prominent peaks tended to often be murked in white or grey clouds more often than not. I was only in El Chalten 3 days. But from observing the weather and studying the clouds envelop and recede from the peak for many hours (whilst it was a bluebird day everywhere else), I said to myself "how the hell do you decide when to commit to this sucker?" Yeah I have commitment issues Conditions can change so damned quickly here. And then there are all of the changing objective hazards you faced on this route. Welcome back and good work.

Found LAYING in the creek a few weeks later I am unable to delete the thread. My friend lost her ski while transitioning on the icy way down from Panorama Point on Saturday Jan 31st. It took off in an ESE direction then turned and disappeared out of site down the Edith Creek chute / drainage. Posted below is the route I beleive the ski took based on how far I could follow it with my eyes. Another friend tried to track it down but came up empty as it was getting dark. Incidentally, she said the chute there was the best snow of the whole icy day! The ski has a brand new Dynafit TLT binding. Please send a message if you find thanks!

Brandon, the first snow started last Sunday above 7000ft. Last TR I've seen on WTA website. Been monitoring weather.gov point forecast since then at 7800ft by Upper Enchantments. Based on those forecasts this weekend there could be up to 1 ft of snow in Upper Enchantments. Nighttime predicted lows have rarely dipped below freezing though. Of course this is an extrapolation, so who knows for sure. I would expect most of Aasgard to be fine, maybe a little ice and snow in the upper parts. Bring a pair of microspikes to be sure Went up there first weekend after permit season last year. What I encountered was about 1-3 feet of snow in upper enchantments, lakes freezing at night and thawing during the day. The snow was super firm and crunchy on the flat so travel was fast! Crust on slopes. There was ice the rocks and snow filling between boulders on the boulder field at colchuck. That was interesting. Aasgard went fine with microspikes and poles. Just enough snow to plunge step skier's right much of the way down, with the occasional buried rock moat to avoid. By the way, it was the most beautiful I've ever seen the enchantments, after visiting them at least 10 times, in all seasons, except deep winter. A few larches still had color and there was a full moon and clear skies! I might be up there too this weekend! Good luck!

because that's what the shutdown is really about?

So what's the deal? Can I park along highway 20 inside NCNP? What about the surrounding national forests? Are all forest road gates closed or what? Please save me 2 hours of driving this weekend if I can't access... Cheers. Oh, and fire the Tea Party please

Are they keeping people from parking cars along highway 20 during the shutdown? Are all gates closed on forest roads? Is it a federal crime to access park/natl forest boundaries? Beta please!

That GPS track is gold! Might take away a little route-finding adventure if used, but nice to have if the weather turns to shite! Thanks!

A planned bivy? Sounds like a nice place to slumber as long as the wind is not too bad. WE trudged up in the shitty soft snow to a minor peak between Ingalls and Longs Pass the previous weekend. The side hilling was horrendous and the wind and snow was strong on the ridge! I was surprised at how low the snow line was too. About 4500 feet I think? Good on ya's

Camping beta requested: bridge creek is the only open campground this weekend. And it's completely booked up. Any suggestions on some decent low-profile camping? Sleeping in car is not an option. thanks!