[TR] Dragontail - Triple Couloirs 4/23/2017

[ilias]

Trip: Dragontail - Triple Couloirs

 

Date: 4/23/2017

 

Trip Report:

Jeff, Priti, Allie, and I climbed Triple Couloirs on Sunday car to car. Great day in the mountains with great friends! It was in fairly easy conditions and though we brought gear in case we needed it, we ended up free soloing the entire route.

 

I had done this route two years ago and this time around it felt way faster and easier, a fun jaunt in the mountains instead of an exhausting and serious undertaking. Great to feel some progress!

 

Trip timeline:

 

4:45am: Left Car at Icicle Creek Road

9:15am: Got to Colchuck Lake

11:00 am: Started up route

2:40 pm: Summit

4:00 pm: Back down at Colchuck Lake

8:15pm: Back at car

 

The whole area is still very snowy for this time of year. The couloirs were full of snow that made for very secure walking up with your entire boot going in every step. The runnels were a mix of AI2 in some sections and steep snow over rock in others. I definitely swung into the snow only to have my tool bounce off the rock underneath a few times.

 

North face conditions

 

Asgard Pass looks like some nice skiing. Wouldn't want to have lugged skis all the way in here though! Although we did run into another party carrying skis up Triple Couloirs.

 

Heading up the first couloir.

 

The crux of the runnels. About 10m of AI2-3.

 

Above the crux of the runnels looking down.

 

Weather deteriorating.

 

Coming up on the step from the 2nd into the 3rd couloir.

 

Summit selfie. Photo credit: Priti

 

Starting the descent down the back side of Dragontail.

 

Started snowing pretty good on our way out.

 

Fun times on the depproach.

 

Approach Notes:

No flotation needed. Microspikes would be nice. Road is dry for first ~1.5 miles, then increasing snow patches, fully covered in snow for the last ~1 mile.

Edited April 25, 2017 by ilias

[Priti]

Fun fun times! Type 1 the whole time! There is still tons of snow everywhere.

 

Notes:

 

I had expected it to take us less that 4.5 hours to get to the lake, even with the road closed. We were going fast with light packs, but maybe microspikes could have shaved off .5 hours? (not sure) People have done it (with the road closed) in 3.25 hrs. Maybe there was less snow, but kudos!

 

I guessed it would take 6 hours on route, from the lake. It took 5.5. Sweet!

 

I thought it would take <~2 hours to descend back to the lake, it took 1.25(ish) nice... Glissading is great!

 

4.25hrs back to the cars. There was some lolly-gagging. Evidence in the photos (full-body snow plunging, dying of laughter, etc)

 

Conclusion:

Need to make legs move faster, while not falling on face

[w37b4g]

Nice job guys! Conditions look amazing, I need to get out there

[John Douglass]

I skied down Asgard Pass that morning as part of the Enchantment Traverse and can testify that the wind-buffed top layer was quite firm and not great skiing. But it was fast

 

Seems like this will be a good Spring/early Summer for climbing on NF Dragontail.

[TRN]

Great to see you on this route Sunday! Thank you for kicking steps up the second and third Couloir! Fully agree that these were really fun conditions. Great to see other groups out enjoying it! The ski down Asgard that day was indeed fast!

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Wow, that is fat. I don't think I've ever seen the runnels that stacked.