Gnarlysteepdeep1

You guys could have let me bask in my glory a little bit longer.

Trip: Colchuck - NBC and CBR Date: 2/2/2011 Trip Report: It all started out as an innocent trip in the mountains. With the idea of finding some fresh snow in new surroundings, we never imagined that we would be bagging some firsts. Our first objective upon arriving at Colchuck lake became the NBC. It looked like fun and we figured there might be snow in it. I'd also never heard of anyone snowboarding it, so it would be pretty much a first descent in the bag for me. The couloir was steep but manageable, with snow ranging from powder to not so powdery. After topping out on the couloir, we did a nasty traverse on to the steep north face. The snow did not resemble powder in the least anymore, we were above a very large cliff and I'd been avoiding defecating in the frigid cold temperatures. Needless to say it was a tense situation. At this point we were all pretty much in agreement that the north face was too steep, icy, exposed and gnarly to be ridden, but that we would talk about it at the summit. We had to do some scrambling to get there though. It was gnarly. we were gnarlier though, and topped out into the sunshine. The nerves got a little break on top,and the sunshine boosted our confidence... so we rode the north face after all. and the traverse back into the NBC. It was radical. The next day with the weather still holding cold and clear we decided to attempt what we were assuming was a first winter ascent of CBR. Possibly also the first summit of CBR to be followed by a tele/snowboard descent. There was a nice view of NBC all the way up. It was a few hour slog up to the col before the summit (we went the easy way). We left our ski gear there and continued on. This required some mixed climbing, free soloing, and aiding. All of this was with lots of exposure, but we made it. While the others tried a few methods of getting to the tippy top... I felt safer where I was. In the end getting down was harder than getting up, but it had turned out to be another successful day of making history. Gear Notes: Ice ax Crampons skis/snowboard/tele sun glasses hats puffy etc. Approach Notes: The Master-beta: Skinning is way harder than walking on bulletproof, post-holed ice.