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Triple Couloirs, a pseudo TR


kurthicks

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we skied, we saw, we went home. kind of long and not too interesting, but there are pics. full size pics are in the gallery

 

important stuff that i could have left out below:

there is now a skin track to the lake until it snows, the lake is frozen solid, there is a rain crust up to the lake but above the lake it appears to go away, there is lots of rotten ice in Leavenworth and blue ice in the alpine.

 

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It stared out simple enough. One short phone call to my regular partner, Shorty, and it was on.

 

the plan: he'd get the pins, i'd grab all the stubbies I could wrangle up and we'd both try to find where we left our sanity. cantfocus.gif we'd go into Colchuck Lake on Saturday with his wife and her friend, spend the night, and weather permitting, give TC a go on Sunday morning. simple enough.

 

we finally left the cars around 10 a.m. on saturday, after a couple avoidable delays. no worries, i though, i'd done the approach in 4 hours in the past... after 100 terribly slow meters, Shorty turned to me and said the dreaded words, "she's never been on skis before." hellno3d.gif "that's ok," I responded, thinking that we had 7 hours to get to the lake. the road ended up taking about 3 hours, so we still had 4 more to cover the last few miles. but our progress was soon stymied by a crappy breakable crust and inadequate gear for some. to cut it short, we ended up camping at the Stuart/Colchuck junction as dark fell because I knew that finding an easy way up the "hill of death" in the dark would prove to be impossible.

 

still, we had our sights set high. A 3 a.m. start could put us at the route at 5...but we awoke to snow and still couldn't justify attacking the hill in the dark without a track to follow. back to sleep we went, having resounded to just do the NBC of Colchuck instead. we finally got our "alpine" start off around 8:30am. nearly two hours of switchbacking on skis brought us to the north end of the lake--it's not the most direct route, so be warned. a short skin across the lake brought our objectives and desires into view. we also met a pair of guys who were finishing up a ski tour through the Enchantments and were headed out after skiing the Colchuck Glacier.

 

3720Triplecouloirs-med.JPG

 

3720colchuckpeak-med.JPG

 

since we were thrashed from the skiing and pretty pissed from not getting there the previous night, we said pitty.gif and had lunch. we did end up climbing some ice on the NE shore of the lake (~15m, WI3+ to a WI2 slab topout) just because we had to justify hauling the gear up there. it didn't do much to lower the level of frustration i had at the moment.

 

Shorty below the ice: (anybody climbed this before?)

3720colchuckice-med.JPG

 

a short ski back out to the car solo and i headed home, contemplating why i torture myself sometimes. this is the second time in a few months that i've been forced into situations with people on serious routes, or approaches to, who either aren't capable or simply don't want it enough. Neither time did i know beforehand about their skills and it led to poor outcomes both times. perhaps, i need to screen my partner's companions before hand like i choose my own partners. i take pride in choosing my regular partners and being comfortable with thier abilities, and they with mine. it's those who "tag along" that can, and often do, make trips mentally taxing and frustrating for everybody else. i do give those people credit for getting out and trying something new, but be forthright about your ability before we leave the car. I don't consider myself to have any sort of elitist attitude, but after reading this, it appears that i do. for that, i could say that i'm sorry, but i'm too frustrated from not even getting on the route to care. the_finger.gif

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a short ski back out to the car solo and i headed home, contemplating why i torture myself sometimes. this is the second time in a few months that i've been forced into situations with people on serious routes, or approaches to, who either aren't capable or simply don't want it enough. Neither time did i know beforehand about their skills and it led to poor outcomes both times. perhaps, i need to screen my partner's companions before hand like i choose my own partners. i take pride in choosing my regular partners and being comfortable with thier abilities, and they with mine. it's those who "tag along" that can, and often do, make trips mentally taxing and frustrating for everybody else. i do give those people credit for getting out and trying something new, but be forthright about your ability before we leave the car. I don't consider myself to have any sort of elitist attitude, but after reading this, it appears that i do. for that, i could say that i'm sorry, but i'm too frustrated from not even getting on the route to care. the_finger.gif

 

hahaha. too fukin funny. tr: walking around carryin climbing gear. the best part is that you will do it again. and again. and again. you gotta rope a lot hay bales before you get to the rodeo.

yar dude. thumbs_up.gif

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My favortie kind of TR: slamming your partners on-line after an unsuccessful trip. Way to go!! Of course, it's all YOUR fault for heading out with them in the first place, so you should have nothing to complain about. And if you still think you can blame it all on them, you should have soloed the route.

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My favortie kind of TR: slamming your partners on-line after an unsuccessful trip. Way to go!! Of course, it's all YOUR fault for heading out with them in the first place, so you should have nothing to complain about. And if you still think you can blame it all on them, you should have soloed the route.

 

i don't consider what i think or wrote to be slamming, sure it is a little negative. This trip report wasn't about the route or the people, it just reminded me to be more true to my own expectations when i get into something. if i thought that we wouldn't even get on the route from the beginning, then it would have been a great trip. there is a lot that comes from either meeting your goal or failing miserably. that said, it was a great time that i got to spend in a beautiful area, but just not the time i was looking for this weekend.

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Personally, I have a problem with people who say they are in shape or know what to bring or whatever and end up being total word-masters. A little honesty is all I expect. I take my little girls out backpacking and have some of the best times. I go out with just about anybody and have fun as long as they do not grossly misrepresent themselves. And I have gone out and had a bad day too, dissappointing partners in the process. But total lip service at the expense of my clearly stated plans is just plain rude. If you don't want to do it, just say so. My guess is that if you said you were going to go to a theater or concert with those same people and somehow couldn't get it together, thereby costing them their stated goal, they would be equally pissed if not more so. Rant on my brother!

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There have been many occasions this season that I have wished I could take my gear for a walk. At least you were out in the open air!

As for the issues about slamming one's partner... IMO Wazzu shows civility and restraint in his TR. He does not go out of his way to dis his companions, he just explains the root of his disappointment. Never on SKIS before? Come on! Who among you wouldn't be pissed?

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I followed Skykilo and my bother this weekend. They never let me know that they couldn't route find. Bastards! the_finger.gif Next weekend I plan to get lost in the clouds instead of the fog. smileysex5.gif

We went in two circles on Sunday, in a whiteout! And Sky sidestepped off a cornice and tumbled 20 feet. You shoulda come! fruit.gif

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Maybe you can both STFU before I start making a concerted effort to post photos of you looking like shit on skis. HCL.gif

You won't have to try all that hard! Didn't you or Dave get a shot of me after one of my spectacular faceplants yesterday? pitty.gif

 

Notice how I never said it was your fault..... hahaha.gif

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Kurt, sorry to here you're trip was slowed down, but hey, still got to be out in the mountains for a few days, so at least you got something out of it! Had a similar experience last week on Baker. The guy that I was going climbing with decided to bring along a friend that wanted to try out climbing. He'd never been on skis either. I'm about as bad of a skier as you'll ever meet, but this guy could redefine slow. We spent all day skinnning up on the on the nine mile road up to the heliotrope ridge trailhead, something that should have taken a long morning, then had to bivy at the trailhead, then spent the whole next day moving from 3300 to 4900 ft. This level of slow was mind-blowing. We took one look at the weather the next day, then turned around and headed down the mountain. It's hard to say if his speed made or broke the trip, but I know what it's like to feel frustated by a partner that hold you up.

 

Very nice pics by the way.

 

Jake

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There is a lot of truth in the comment about not mixing climbing and pleasure. The people who are there for fun will either pull you down to their level, or you'll blow them off; feelings are hurt in any event. If wazzumountaineer is in his 20's, then he's learned a valuable lesson; if he's in his 50's, then he's a slow learner!

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There is a lot of truth in the comment about not mixing climbing and pleasure...If wazzumountaineer is in his 20's, then he's learned a valuable lesson

 

ding ding. i am in my 20's and i did learn a lot from last weekend. often i find myself trying to use the weekends to fulfill all of the things that i miss each week while i'm suffering through my last year of classes and work. having any sort of lesser experience on the weekends makes Mondays just that much harder. that i mind, i think i'll go suffer in the weather this weekend...it's gotta be better than the alternative. hellno3d.gif

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Just thought I would clarify something. When I turned and said "She has never been on skis before" I was talking about my friend, not my wife. I'm not the kind of guy that does that crap. My wife practically lives on skis and is much better than either of us are. There are two things to consider though. One, I didn't know about here lack of experience until we were at the trailhead. Still, it's my own damn fault for not asking. We all know what happens when you assume. Second, she never made one single complaint durring the entire trip regardless of her totally antiquated gear. Despite having the state of the art bla bla bla gear, neither wazzumountaineer of I were skiing all that great. We do fine when it comes to walking up hill with skins but both are absolutely pathetic when it comes to sliding down. There was a lot of walking (and spectacular crashes) involved despite our efforts. Regardless, it was still a really fun trip.

 

Oh yeah, are you going to come get your stove back or not? I am leaving tonight at 6:00 do so some more playing, and watch my wife kick the hell out of me on skis again.

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Hey Shorty,

 

Nice work getting up to a beautiful place in winter conditions.

 

Something I've learned is that it's great to have high ambitions and lofty aspirations, but in the end, you have to climb (or not climb) with the PARTY THAT YOU ARE IN. Sounds like Kurt had objectives (Triple Couloirs) that ignored (as in "ignorant of") the skills of the party HE was with. So instead of having a great trip to Colchuck in winter, he has a frustrating trip that he feels the need to complain about. Too bad for him.

 

Meanwhile, it sounds like you have a more humble, positive outlook on your trip, where a relative novice took risks, suffered a bit, worked hard, and got to see something she never would have seeen otherwise -- and according to you, NEVER COMPLAINED.

 

Perhaps Kurt has something to learn from her about not complaining?

 

Hope you're doing well, Shorty. Nice work on Liberty Crack a few months back, by the way. See you around.

 

- goatboy

wave.gif

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