Winter climbing?

[Norman_Clyde]

I made a solo attempt on the Constance North Chute on Memorial Day weekend of 2000, and found at the top of the chute that the path down to the Eastern aspect was a narrow ledge coated with rime ice and verglas. I had met a party of three in the chute, and we all agreed it was no go. My question for you guys who have done it is: how do you get past this difficulty? The rest of the climb did not appear difficult. The steep trail approach is a physical challenge, but not a hazard, I agree. If anyone is interested in planning a one day of Constance this season, send me a post.

[David_Parker]

So did you descend the North Chute? That sounds even more sketchy! My experience is that you don't traverse across a ledge but descend about 30-40 feet down into the chute leading to the notch and climb the last little bit of that. If you had a rope you could have rigged up a rap I suppose.

[mneagle]

It is a little sketchy, but if you take your time it's not too bad to get down that 30 feet with a little skill with an axe. I've done it twice in winter and never excountered any verglas. I think it's a way better route than the south chute, so if the only thing that keeps you from doing it is the down-climb, then bring a short rope and rap it.

[Norman_Clyde]

It's true, it was only about a 30 foot drop but looked mighty slippery. I was solo, and did not bring a rope for rappels. The other party had a rope but still was not interested. Having read various posts on how this area is not a problem, I wonder what kept us from going for it at the time. There was not any debate among the four of us checking it out. I would figure that it might be simpler in winter, if part of the gully were snow filled.

[David_Parker]

Verglass is definitely intimidating. But using your ice axe in rock crevasses or hooking features(drytooling) should have seen you through. I assume you had crampons. If the other party had a rope, you could have belayed everyone down, saving the most confident climber to go last. I found getting off the summit block harder than that section. I actually had a 25 ft rope and rigged it to self belay myself to get off the summit. So did you turn around at that point? I'd be curious to know what descending the north chute was like! Now that sounds dicey if it was hard neve.

[Norman_Clyde]

Yes, I did have crampons but did not need them in the Chute, and it was more of a dry tooling situation on the other side. When I said "Pretty slabby" I mainly meant avalanche potential, with the upper portion having a fairly hollow sound and feel in parts, even though it was soft. I did not have serious concern at the time, but I'm thinking that this same spot in winter would be more heavily loaded and less consolidated-- yet it should be fine after a few warm days, as mneagle said.

Descending the chute was actually a pleasant glissade, but I stopped partway down in order to traverse over to Crystal Pass.

Yes, a belayed downclimb should be no problem, and if I get up there again I'll carry a rope.