Triple Couloirs

[JoshK]

I'm very jealous. Those conditions look great. I did d-tail last winter (albeit by a different route, as a ski tour) and it's an beautiful place high on that mountain and the enchantment plateau in the winter. These pics make me want to head right back.

[esteban]

Can't see the photos, but nice work fellas! Wish I could've been there as well.

tschuss,

esteban

[joshs]

Turn right 1 mile early and head to Cashmere, the relief would be better and the approach shorter.

 

OK, maybe I'll try that. Thanks for the info guys!

 

-Josh

 

[Crackman]

For those of you not able to see the pics -- here's a link to where they (and a few extras) are posted

web page

[Tennessee]

You mentioned that you were able to drive up 8 mile road for 1.5 miles. Was this on snow or was it snow free? Did you use 4wd?

 

Thanks for the info and pics. Looks great. I'm probably going to go up there this Saturday and have a look myself.

[Crackman]

We had 4WD and chains and still got stuck once briefly. At 1.5 there is a a slide that cannot be crossed except by snowmobile. Fortunately most of the steeper grade is over by then.

[mattp]

That suggests to me that it would be just as easy to park at the bottom and walk. Putting on chains and risking getting stuck, even briefly, isn't worth it to avoid walking for 20 minutes. Of course you might not have known that in advance, but what I'm suggesting is that Eight Mile road is not really very long and I usually find the use of a snowmobile or 4x4 more trouble than it is worth.

[freeclimb9]

ride a bike.

[Distel32]

Well damn, those pictures look awesome! good job guys,

[Linebacker]

Great pics, looks like another great day in the mountains. Looking forward to healing up getting one of these with you Crackster!

 

lb

[texplorer]

Damn, I'm jealous Crackman. We gotta go do something cool this spring.

[Wallstein]

I climbed this route on Thursday and found it to be in ok shape. A little snowy and soft in some sections but fun climbing. We did use some pitons and stoppers and didn't really find any good snow for pickets. We did use them though. I would say go left early to enter the 2nd couloir and don't try the "easier" 5.8 down climb. When entering the 3rd traverse over as early as possible to avoid wallowing in snow. Definately a must do route!

[JayB]

After sizing up the conditions and dispensing with any delusions we had about getting any climbing done yesterday, a buddy and I did the circuit from Bridge Creek C.G. to Colchuck Lake yesterday to get a feel for how much pain a one day round trip to one of the climbs in the area would involve. Round trip from Bridge Creek C.C. to Colchuck Lake took about 6:45 in mostly hard-packed conditions.

 

Conditions on the approach/restatement of the obvious...

 

- Raining at Bridge Creek C.G. and up to about 500 feet above the valley floor.

- Snow intensifying at higher elevations, with roughly 8" of new at Colchuck Lake by 2:00PM.

-Packed out but rapidly dissappearing track until the junction between the Stewart Lake trail and the trail to Colchuck. Used snowshoes after this point as there was about 6" of new snow on the ground and I kept punching through the crust underneath the new stuff.

- If you bring skis, stash them at the Stewart Lake Trailhead as the trail would be a nightmare on skis, with lots of convolutions, crust, and a track that's too narrow to accomodate skis easily.

[JayB]

JayB said:

After sizing up the conditions and dispensing with any delusions we had about getting any climbing done yesterday, a buddy and I did the circuit from Bridge Creek C.G. to Colchuck Lake yesterday to get a feel for how much pain a one day round trip to one of the climbs in the area would involve. Round trip from Bridge Creek C.C. to Colchuck Lake took about 6:45 in mostly hard-packed conditions.

 

Conditions on the approach/restatement of the obvious...

 

- Raining at Bridge Creek C.G. and up to about 500 feet above the valley floor.

- Snow intensifying at higher elevations, with roughly 8" of new at Colchuck Lake by 2:00PM.

-Packed out but rapidly dissappearing track until the junction between the Stewart Lake trail and the trail to Colchuck. Used snowshoes after this point as there was about 6" of new snow on the ground and I kept punching through the crust underneath the new stuff.

- If you bring skis, stash them at the Stewart Lake Trailhead as the trail would be a nightmare on skis, with lots of convolutions, crust, and a track that's too narrow to accomodate skis easily.

 

Conditions as of 2/22

 

-New snow:

 

2-3" at 500-1000 feet above Bridge Creek C.G.

4-6" at Stewart Lake T.H, on top of weak breakable crust.

1' at junction between trail to Colchuck and Stewart Lake Trails with crust below.

18"+ at Colchuck Lake. Looked like high, steady winds above treeline.

 

Skis or shoes would be a good idea until the snowpack consolidates.

[JoshK]

So were part of the crew that was heading up the bridge creek road at about 3:00 or so this morning? I was passed out in a car up there and it looked like a team of 4 or so were heading up to try a climb.

[Greg_W]

JoshK said:

So were part of the crew that was heading up the bridge creek road at about 3:00 or so this morning? I was passed out in a car up there and it looked like a team of 4 or so were heading up to try a climb.

 

That was us...damn fools!!!

[JoshK]

Greg_W said:

JoshK said:

So were part of the crew that was heading up the bridge creek road at about 3:00 or so this morning? I was passed out in a car up there and it looked like a team of 4 or so were heading up to try a climb.

 

That was us...damn fools!!!

 

Oh man, Greg, don't leave me hanging... What was the outcome? We were originally there to try triple Cs too, but the weather made us move to less ambitous backup plans.

[Greg_W]

The approach was taking much longer than we anticipated; read JayB's post above for a taste of the snow we encountered sans snowshoes. We turned around with the knowledge that if we had gone on, we would most probably have encountered deep snow on our route (NEB Couloir on Colchuck) and descended in the dark. We got some exercise, though, so it wasn't a total loss. We'll go back, but I think we'll do the approach the day before and camp at the lake.

 

What did you end up climbing? Castle Rock was dry and in the sun!!!

[JoshK]

Yeah, we were looking over to the south facing rock with envy. We ended up trying yellowjacket tower, which is just a moderate rock climb in the summer. In the winter conditions, however, it was quite fun and gave some spicy mixed climbing for the few pitches we did. We ended up stopping about 30 feet short of the summit, which, in rock shoes in summer, would have been a very easy climb. With snow and verglas however it sent us packing despite or attmpets to aid it. As you said, it was good excercise, so it was certainly better than sitting at home.

[Alex]

our route (NEB Couloir on Colchuck)

 

hey I know that route! incidentally, it was a year ago this week that we crawled up that thing!

 

cheers, alex

[erik]

JoshK said:

Yeah, we were looking over to the south facing rock with envy. We ended up trying yellowjacket tower, which is just a moderate rock climb in the summer. In the winter conditions, however, it was quite fun and gave some spicy mixed climbing for the few pitches we did. We ended up stopping about 30 feet short of the summit, which, in rock shoes in summer, would have been a very easy climb. With snow and verglas however it sent us packing despite or attmpets to aid it. As you said, it was good excercise, so it was certainly better than sitting at home.

 

our samplings were quiet fine!!!

 

[Bronco]

Greg_W said:

We turned around with the knowledge that if we had gone on, we would most probably have encountered deep snow on our route (NEB Couloir on Colchuck) and descended in the dark.

 

In your dreams big guy! We would've been doing good to get half way up the couloir before dark!

 

 

[Greg_W]

Bronco said:

Greg_W said:

We turned around with the knowledge that if we had gone on, we would most probably have encountered deep snow on our route (NEB Couloir on Colchuck) and descended in the dark.

 

In your dreams big guy! We would've been doing good to get half way up the couloir before dark!

 

 

Not once the horsecock afterburner kicked in. I didn't tell you guys that I brought nitro for avy control; that would have solved all our problems on the route.

[ivan]

That was us...damn fools!!!

deeply enrobed in down at 230 a.m., listening to ya'll thrash around amidst your preprations, i found myself the very opposite of envious...i usually feel pretty crappy about changing plans at the last minute, but i bet josh and i ended up having just as much fun climbing up to yellowjacket tower, w/ about half the pain of shlepping up to colchuck just to come on back home (sleeping in till the sun came up was most nice)

 

josh, ain't you gonna tell the story of how the audi car company is perhaps the finest on the planet? shall i tell how the l-worth coppers are perhaps the most annoying?

[JoshK]

Yes, the fact that Audi sent and paid for a tow truck to pull us out of a snowbank after I attmpeted to jump it, and instead just buried the car in it was pretty impresive. I figured road side assistance was for breakdowns, etc., but not for moron owners.

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the leavenworth cops suck. Hearing the dispatch call for the towtruck, they quickly drove down the icicle road to find and harass us. For some reason I thought "to protect and serve" meant they would offer a hand or at least make sure everything was ok. In reality, I think it means to harass and belittle and pray they'll find something to give us a ticket for...