[TR] Cutthroat Peak- E couloir 4/8/05 avec photos

[scott_johnston]

Climb: Cuthroat Peak-east couloir

 

Date of Climb: 4/8/2005

 

Trip Report:

After seeing to great photos posted of Polish Bob on their climb of the E couloir I couldn't resist.

 

Steve House and I climbed it this morning and found great conditions. We left the car at 7:15am on skis. Left our skis at the avy cone at 9:00. The lower gully isn't too bad of a wallow. The ice on the crux (2nd) pitch is fat and no harder than WI3 right now. We soloed up the first pitch (WI3+) which was a bit sketchy. The ice here was great but there were several spindrift avys that hit us. After that we belayed the next pitch and sure enough I got nailed by a fair sized avy near the top. The section from the top of the steep ice in the gully to the ridge we simulclimbed. It is fun with some ice steps and solid neve otherwise and gear placements are available. Most of the loose snow should be gone now and the route is definitely worth doing but avy conditions could persist in warm weather. We topped out on the N ridge at 11am. We descended the N ridge to the notch which was great fun. Very Alaska like with all the cornices and firm snow on a, in places, very narrow ridge. We rapped off the cornice at the notch and walked back to our skis by 12:30.

Skiiing out was a major pain as the snow had turned a combination of mush and breakable crust.

 

A great day out on a fun route. I highly recommend it in these conditions.

 

Bob: I had a little trouble getting my walker up the crux pitch but managed.

 

 

Gear Notes:

60m rope

For the climb:

5 ice screws

small rack from stoppers to #3 Camalot

4 knife blades

4 lost arrows

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

Skis or snow shoes advised. The snow is not firm enough to walk on yet.

I'd recommend the descent of the N ridge like we did to save a traverse of the mountain and allow you to pick up any gear/skis stashed at the base of the route.

 

Dodging spindrift avys on P2

 

 

Steve Going for the N ridge ]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/upload/449449-stevebelaying.jpg' alt='449449-stevebelaying.jpg'>

Steve belaying on P2

Edited April 19, 2005 by scott_johnston

[bobbyperu]

gettin while the gettins good...nice scott looks fun!

[layton]

hey scott, nice job!

so how are conditions over there right now for ice or rock? i left just after the 1st rains and just got back the other day. is the hwy open? thanks!

-Mike

[scott_johnston]

Mike;

Highway's open so access is easy again. The conditions for alpine climbing right now are in transition. We had a fair bit of snow in the last 10 days and not much sunshine to settle the snow pack. A few freeze/thaw cycles will improve things greatly. But at least it looks pretty much like a normal April above 5000' and not the barren desert landscape that we had a month ago.

Scott

[layton]

thanks scott!

[glassgowkiss]

Bob: I had a little trouble getting my walker up the crux pitch but managed.

hey scott, just bad wording in the post about FR. I spoke to someone who was in mazama last jan and he told me you were mostly skiing and also busy with guiding. so it's good to hear you are also doing some routes. as far as walkers go- well, i'll need one soon if my foot starts getting any worst.

as far as rating, as talked on many ocassions i am a proponent of not using seriousness grade in the technical grade of the pitch/route. will gadd had a pretty good write-up some time ago.

so when are you going back on that face to send this nice looking chimney just to the left of the ice corner? looks like an awsome pitch!

[scott_johnston]

Bob;

 

No offense taken. I was just teasing about the walker. Steve loves to make fun of my various age and abuse related injuries. We have an inside "walker" joke.

 

To paraphrase Mark Twain: Rumors of my climbing demise are greatly exagerated. I try to get out there from time to time.

 

Re: That chimney up and left of the first belay looks really wild, quite Scotish. Looks like a tight fit though. It was all I could do to keep Steve from climbing that way. But I wanted to do the regular route first since neither us had been on it before. And it was my lead so I took off before he could persuaded me to grovel and scare myself in the chimney. Glad I did as we had a blast on the route.

Sorry to hear about your foot.

 

All the Best, Scott

[skykilo]

And Scott, as far as that stupid skiing stuff, I thought this looked like a way cool line you did on Kangaroo:

 

Edited April 11, 2005 by skykilo

[scott_johnston]

Skykilo;

OH YEAH! Kangaroo's Pouch on Big Kanga. It was a sweet line but off camber and steep at the top. Could be in good shape right now with the 8" of new we got at the pass last night.

Lots of avy debris from the warm up Friday and Sat,

Skiing is only a little less stoopid than climbing, wouldn't you agree.

Scott