[TR] Colchuck Peak- North Buttress Couloir 4/9/2005

[mughjie]

Climb: Colchuck Peak-North Buttress Couloir

 

Date of Climb: 4/9/2005

 

Trip Report:

Left Emerald City with Direct Doug at 5:30 heading East. Got to the TH around 8:30 and to Colchuck Lake at 10:30. The road has snow starting a mile from the TH but nothing a Subaru can't handle (souped up 4X4 trucks with monster truck tires may want to exercise caution, more on this later) the trail is in good shape with a boot track all the way to the lake. The lake itself is still frozen providing a welcome bypass to the 'round-the-lake trail. A few hundred feet above the lake we ran into two gentlemen climbers returning from the route who provided us with good route info and a hearty farewell. The boot track they, and another solo climber who followed them, left was priceless. Aside from a tricky but easily protectable 10 foot step--thin ice covered by soft snow over rock-- at the base of the couloir, the couloir was in fine shape. Once on the Northwest Face we did a running belay all they way to the summit. We stayed on snow the whole way placing various forms of protection along the way. It wasn't really needed since the snow was generally firm but since we brought it, we used it. The last step up to the small summit block was protected by a well-placed piton, the last piece of protection left. Thanks to the great steps kicked by those who preceded us, it took 4 1/2 hours to go lake-to-lake. The route is in fabulous shape, a fun alpine climb. Additional note: on the way out, we ran into a 400 horsepower, three-feet-off-the-ground truck stuck not in a ravine or ditch but in the middle of the road. This would have been more enjoyable had the truck not blocked our way home. 30 minutes of dedicated work with an ice axe got the truck out and us on our way home.

 

Gear Notes:

30m rope

2 tools (handy but not required, ice axe is enough)

3 pickets

3 cams

2 pitons

Edited April 11, 2005 by mughjie

[kurthicks]

gotta love those jacked up trucks. how was Triple Couloirs looking?

[mughjie]

Triple Couloirs looked questionable. The ice runnels section between the Hidden Couloir and the second couloir was pretty bare.

Edited April 11, 2005 by mughjie

[gyselinck]

We bivied on the far side of the lake and I heard rock falling off that mountain all night.

[goatboy]

I climbed it in April last year, and it looked like this:

 

 

How did it compare this year, snow-cover and conditions-wise?

 

Thanks!

[mughjie]

Maybe a little less snow, but pretty similar.

Edited April 12, 2005 by mughjie

[MCash]

Saturday

 

[slaphappy]

MCash, where did you take that from? Condor/Bathtub?

[MCash]

On the Condor Buttress. Suprisingly nice views up there.

[Juan]

Would "Direct Doug" be Doug Walker?

 

Sharp

[mughjie]

That would be the one.

[pup_on_the_mountain]

Climbed NBC yesterday (Apr 17). Loads of fresh snow all the way up and down. There was another guy soloing it (apart from me) and a third team of two. We were sinking knee-deep almost all the way up. I was taking turns with this other team of two in breaking trail. We started from the lake at about 6:15 am. The other solo guy started from the trailhead Sunday morning and overtook us a little before the entry to the couloir. He broke trail and also beat us to the summit by about an hour!! Thanks dude.

 

I used two tools (was helpful at two or three places to climb up mixed stuff). The team of two carried rope and pro, but did not use them. It took almost five hours of slogging to get to the summit. Had a nice glissade most of the way down the Colchuck glacier. It got cloudy and snowy a bit when we were near the summit, but the weather did not turn worse.

 

Overall it was a good climb, but required more strength than technique. Some clear and cold days would help to settle all that fresh snow!!

 

PS: I could drive my Honda Civic about 0.5 miles from the trailhead without any problems. I was a little ambitious and quite stupid though and pushed it a little bit to get stuck in the snow . Luckily, this team of two came in a truck and pulled my car out. I met a lady who drove a Subaru all the way to the trailhead.