[TR] Guye Peak West Face Ski Descent- West Face 3/12/2006

[Jens]

Climb: Guye Peak West Face Ski Descent-West Face

 

Date of Climb: 3/12/2006

 

Trip Report:

 

On March 12 Jeff Hansel and I skied the West Face of Guye Peak.

While climbing Guye in a previous winter, I noticed that a series of improbable steep ramps dissect the west face of Guye. The ramps looked much smaller from Alpental Road than they really turned out to be (most people driving to Alpental would not think of the west face of Guye as being a ski possiblity). Jeff and I accessed a right trending ramp that began approximately 75 yards climbers left of the start of the "Improbable Traverse" Route. The ramp angled southward across the middle of the west face and was directly above the large roof hovering over the improbable traverse route. When the ramp ended in vertical terrain in the middle of the west face, a narrow ice step with rocks led up to an improbable looking left leading narrow ramp. At the end of the second ramp, a rib was crossed and a leftward traverse was made which led to a steep gully that eventually led to the summt. The ski decent off the summt and into the upper gully proved excellent although exposed skiing. The upper ramp featured turns at the edge of the steep wall of the west face. The crux of the ski decent was the narrow ice step with rocks near the ramp transition at the center of the face which had to be skied with care as a several hunderd foot free fall lurked directly below. We were both very scared- (I was more scared than I had been in quite a while). The greater than normal snowpack this year and good snow conditions allowed us passage. The drive back and to the sasuge-fest was a blur.- Jens Klubberud

 

Gear Notes:

skis, axe, crampons

Edited March 25, 2006 by snoboy

[skykilo]

Yeah, now let's see that route photo Jens! Draw a line, draw a line. I think I can visualize it, but I want to see where the hell you went.

[RocNoggin]

great job guys! I climbed that route last summer and I can see how it would go, but WOW! hell of a nice job!

[AllYouCanEat]

Way to go Jens! I wish that I was there. Looks like fun.

[fenderfour]

I'm calling bullshit - look at the camera tilt!

[philfort]

Haha, nice job! Anyone who's been to Alpental with me the past few months knows I've been talking about that line every time... no one seemed to think it would go though - guess you proved them wrong!

Cool that you skied it with no rappel... looked like a few thin sections, but hard to tell from the road.

[Weekend_Climberz]

Sweet!!

 

I want to see a photo with the line on it too. I would have never guessed that thing could have gone as a ski run. Awesome!!

[ilookeddown]

Great job! I have climbed the route you took. The NW ramp (I assume you took down) is much wider than it looks from the road. Just getting there from the summit is the hard part. Again great job!

[gregc]

Nice Jens! Great pics too!