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Coleman Headwall ski descent


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The Manfredi brothers and Charlie Berg skied the

Coleman Headwall on saturday. I had family

commitments... so I wasn't able to go...Ben manfredi, josh and I had been up there two times this year and turned away because of ice and avi. They reported sustained firm and breakable corn to 50 degrees on the upper 2500 vertical and avy prone sluff corn on the lower 500 vertical. Highlights included a 50+ degree skirt above a bergschrud near the top and a mandatory 10ft jump over a bergschrud near the bottom. Ben tells

me it was sketchy. Email him for further details:

benmantele@yahoo.com

 

Anyway, I hear rumors that it was skied in the early 90's. Anyone know the details? Alpine? Tele? Rope? No rope? Any info on more recent descents? Just curious.

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Wow, big weekend for steep skiing in the Cascades. Looks like I'll be busy updating my history website.

 

Rumors have floated around for years about ski descents of the Coleman headwall, but I've never heard any names or confirmed reports. Some years ago there was a photo by Bela Vadasz showing somebody carrying skis up the headwall, and I believe Jim Nelson has a similar photo in his selected climbs guidebook. I've also heard rumors of tracks being spotted on the headwall, but it's all very sketchy.

 

I'm inclined to post the Manfredi/Berg descent as a strawman on my website and see if anything else shakes out. (I finally got around to posting several descents by those guys on Mt Adams. I have details from Ben, but haven't written them up yet.)

 

For more details on Washington ski mountaineering history, see http://alpenglow.org/ski-history

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I don't know of prior descents of Tieton or Dome. They both sound worth recording. I'll follow up with Ben about them (or you can contact me at lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org ). Thanks for the info!

 

As an amateur ski historian, I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get caught up with the history, since it's got a hundred-year head start on me. [Wink]

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