Bug Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Billygoat and I went up the trail a couple miles in about 1.5 feet of snow. It was pretty hard to pull the tips up through it as it was a little warmed and then refroze with a couple inches of powder on top of that. Triple couloirs had snow all the way but that was from the boulders on the SL trail before the fork to Colchuck. The way the snow was sticking to the rock near us, it could have been very snowy with little ice in the couloirs. Avalanche conditions didn't seem too bad tho as the snow was well connected thru to the ground. Hard to say how the couloirs were loaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatboy Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Thanks for the update. Good to hear useful information ("the snow was connected all the way to the ground") rather than "We went up there. Things looked good." Â Could you see the North Side of Stuart at all from where you stopped? Probably not, I'm guessing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRoark Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I'm thinking of heading up there the weekend after Christmas...anybody interested? No definite goal in mind, yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted December 19, 2003 Author Share Posted December 19, 2003 Thanks for the update. Good to hear useful information ("the snow was connected all the way to the ground") rather than "We went up there. Things looked good." Â Could you see the North Side of Stuart at all from where you stopped? Probably not, I'm guessing.... You guessed right. Colchuck and Dragontail were looking sparsly snowed. As I said earlier, the snow on the boulders in the valley were covered with about 10" of snow. So the snow we were seeing on the couloirs could have been useless for climbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 The skiing on the Colchuck Glacier Looked like it would be Schweet. It was great to be out there this time of year. Bug and I made a solid skin track for those that might follow (Hroarck). Some of the turns are a bit awkward tho, we were following an old packed trail made by snowshoers (sp?) Â Â Goat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jja Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 dragontail on 12/21 Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jja Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 colchuck on 12/21 Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted December 22, 2003 Author Share Posted December 22, 2003 Spill dude. Why were you up there? Ski or snowshoe? How deep was the snow at the lake? How frozen was it? Did you summit? Did you like our trail packing job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jja Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I was up there cause I had nothing to do this weekend, slept half the day on Saturday and was looking to get some exercise yesterday. Left the car at 8:15 road was walkable to about 8mile trailhead, then put on the snowshoes. Trail was distinct all the way to the winter turn off that goes straight up the hill to the mid point of the lake. I missed that turn off (if the winter trail's been established yet). Rather than look around for it or bushwack my own, I continued on the path of least resistance and followed the summer trail around to the south end of the lake (did a little bit of trail breaking here). Hit the lake at 12:30. Â I was struck by how cold it was at the lake, maybe low 20's. The lake was frozen, but I'm a wimp so I skirted the edge. No climbing, just out for the views, ate a sandwich, took some pictures and headed home. Great bluebird day! Â As far as the snow at the lake, colchuck glacier looked prime for skiing - at least the upper part. Would require some careful navigating down low by the lake to avoid base damage. Snow was a couple of inches of fluff over a breakable crust. Higher elevations had more fluff and less crust. Forgot to bring the binos (doh !) but there was ice here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted December 22, 2003 Author Share Posted December 22, 2003 Nice. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted December 23, 2003 Share Posted December 23, 2003 I was struck by how cold it was at the lake, maybe low 20's. Â About the coldest I've ever felt was up there right before Thanksgiving several years ago. There was an air temp of around 10 degrees. The wind was blowing across the lake and funneling up towards Aasgard Pass. Probably blowing around 30 mph. That's nothing compared to polar conditions or Alaskan winter mountaineering or anything, but it felt cold to me. That's the only time I've ever had ice start to form on my eyelashes and eyebrows. I had on every stitch of clothing I brought w/ me and it wasn't quite enough to be comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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