skyclimb Posted March 30, 2003 Posted March 30, 2003 Conditions?? Leuthold/headwall?? Avy?? Ice fall?? Conditions?? Quote
skykilo Posted March 30, 2003 Posted March 30, 2003 Climbed and skied Leuthold's Couloir yesterday. It's in sweet condition for skiing. There was some postholing on the way up, we didn't even need crampons or axes. Sandy Headwall looked good, too. We got down before it warmed up, don't know the immediate effects of the heat wave... Quote
Sabertooth Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 Just as a heads up to everyone: Don't even think about trying the Devil's Kitchen Headwall right now. Where it narrows at about 11,000 feet, I postholed today up to my shoulders. When I tried to chop a path through, then pull myself up by dry tooling on the choss at the side, I went in over my head. Downclimbing 300 feet of avy prone 60 - 70 degree snow was quite an interesting experience. Quote
MtnHigh Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 Sabertooth said: Just as a heads up to everyone: Don't even think about trying the Devil's Kitchen Headwall right now. Where it narrows at about 11,000 feet, I postholed today up to my shoulders. When I tried to chop a path through, then pull myself up by dry tooling on the choss at the side, I went in over my head. Downclimbing 300 feet of avy prone 60 - 70 degree snow was quite an interesting experience. Sabertooth: curious why you would venture into the Kitchen gullies, especially route 1C in these conditions. The recent load of snow and the warm temps clearly suggest poor conditions in a narrow gulley route. Be patient and wait for a freeze thaw cycle and enjoy the route when it's thick with water ice. Quote
iain Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 were you solo? I saw you heading in. Today was much better for skiing up there than climbing in my opinion. Freezing level high. Those gulleys are much better after a good cycle of freeze-thaw. Too much crap raining down in there higher up otherwise too. Quote
iain Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 as for conds on the west side, there were some minor sluffs off yocum ridge today but there is no sign of debris coming out out leuthold's which seems to slide as much as anything over there. That said, not worth the effort imho to head up those routes w/o some good freeze-thaw, and so far, just thaw. Saw ski tracks out of leuthold, nice turns. maybe some high quality new snow on the way too Quote
Sabertooth Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 I was solo and wanted to try something hard. I thought there would be unconsolidated snow in there, but not 6' of it. The headwall was definately climbable, but the upper hourglass is completely impassable right now. Had a good time, and that looks like a fun route when it's iced over. Quote
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