spiderman Posted August 21, 2003 Posted August 21, 2003 I need some beta. Anyone been up there recently? Navigation problems, ice conditions, etc. Quote
Jarred_Jackman Posted August 21, 2003 Posted August 21, 2003 I was up there about two weeks ago looking at the Coleman Headwall and the North Ridge looked completely doable. I saw it only from the top of Hog's Back but the features on the cliff looked good, that approach looked crevassed but not terrible, getting on the ridge looked like the hardest part bc it was fairly melted out and lots of loose rock showing. Many avalanches had come off of the climber's left side of the headwall, so I suppose the ice cliff could be dropping chunks if the weather is warm. Go for it! Quote
Dru Posted August 21, 2003 Posted August 21, 2003 i can see it from my office window - i would say you should be there right now cause the forecast is for rain fri-sun!!! Quote
klenke Posted August 21, 2003 Posted August 21, 2003 There is a TR from June 2003 on www.sverdina.com Don't know if it will be useful for conditions but may be useful for routefinding issues. Quote
jimmyo Posted August 21, 2003 Posted August 21, 2003 I was there July 19-20 weekend. Getting to base of climb was becoming an issue even back then. We got there going very high across the glacier (high enough that you could or even should take the cattle track up and across a good ways. wish i could describe the rock feature we used as a reference). I don't know if this upper crossing will still be passable. it wasn't a snow bridge, just a 20 degree downslope finger between crevasses that was a few feet wide. If melted out it could be more knife-edge by now, a month later. It did look like someone had recently crossed the glacier very low (below the level at which you crest that first slope above the common low camp sites). That might be a better bet. Center of glacier was impassible, serious dead ends. Ways that looked like they would go from farther vantage points turned out not to because of huge (20 foot across) crevasses blocked from distant view by a knoll/roll. Weather went from clear to lenticular to an 8500 foot ceiling in about 2 1/2 hours so we bailed, can't give you route beta. Jimmy O Quote
KCClimber Posted August 22, 2003 Posted August 22, 2003 Was up there early August and we could negotiate the lower glacier just fine. The route was in great shape. Had to traverse hard right before the summit plateau. The variation start(couloir) was the way to go! Good luck Quote
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