NE Coulior of Cutthroat

[Kyle_Flick]

First time I've posted in a while and am trying to get the hang of the new format. Anyway, the Coulior is thin, but in good shape. With a continued freeze-thaw to replenish what Curt and I knocked down it should still go for another week or two. As the party that did it the weekend before described, the crux pitch protects well with a combination of rock gear--small tcus, stoppers and a knifeblade (which is fixed for anyone that wants to now use it) and one ice screw up high to protect the exit from the crux second pitch. Really interested mixed climbing. I was tempted to carry the snowshoes on the climb to eliminate the postholing back around the south buttress to retrieve the shoes left at the coulior entrance, but given the chimney moves involved at the exit from the second pitch, I was glad not to have them. Just consider the extra postholing as conditioning. Anyway the west gully has adequate anchors to rap. Most of the gully can be downclimbed with one rap needed (two ropes) to clear a rock band in the middle of the gully.

As an aside, from the tracks of the earlier party, they took a more direct straight line to the summit after the second pitch. We veered left an came up as the guide book described just south of the summit. This way we got to test ourselves on 5.7 rock in mountain boots. The other party came up on the north side which didn't involve rock, but was probably more aesthetic. Highly recommend the route to all you mixed climbing aficionados.

[specialed]

Pick Flick

[Alex]

Thanks for the TR! I moved it here to North Cascades...

 

Alex

[Climzalot]

Some friends and I climbed the route yesterday and it was in pretty good shape. It was pretty cold up there and the snow on the approach was nice and firm which eliminated the need for snowshoes. As long as it continues to freeze at night and doesnt get nuclear hot in the day I think the route will be climbable.