Conditions - (base of) N Face Dragontail

[Alisse]

I don't feel very motivated about writing this, but I told some guys we met on the way in that I'd write up something...

 

Last weekend, Joe and I went to check out the Gerber Sink on Dragontail, but after talking with the two parties coming out and then seeing it in the evening, decided on Triple Couloirs. "Be prepared for long runouts.. good thing you brought pickets..." Yes. We brought pickets..screws...pins...rock gear. Heavy packs!

 

Approach was pretty uneventful, stashed our road shoes and switched to our boots once the snow got deeper and more consistent, about 2 miles in from the gate. We speculated about when the road would open and what all the Enchantments permits holders would say!

 

Walked across the frozen lake and camped on the south end in chilly yet calm conditions, good stars out! Lots of snow up there! Unconsolidated snow, seemed more like March than April. Unsupportable crust with 1.5-2'ish of powdery/sugary snow beneath. The direct trek up to the base of the route was ridiculous -- took us three times as long as we expected, post-holing our way up.

 

We weren't stoked or fit enough to hurry on up the nearly unprotectable slog/wallow in deep snow and also feel good about the sunny forecast/avy conditions for the way down Aasgard. So we turned tail and hiked out. Ah well... it was a good fitness camping trip!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Alisse

[John Douglass]

Thank you for the update Alisse. I was also thinking about heading up to try the G-S but imagine conditions probably haven't changed much over the course of the week. Of course you never know unless you go.