tvashtarkatena Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) Trip: Argonaut - NE Couloir Date: 3/17/2008 Trip Report: Argonaut, NE Couloir March 17, 2008 The pelting woke me up again. It hadn’t stopped for several hours. By now I was looking forward to sleeping in before casually brewing up some tea and cream of wheat, packing up, and strolling back to the car. “I slept through the alarm. It’s 5:20.” Don said. “It’s clear out.” Damn! Back to work. Don slipped into his ancient Galibiers. The only synthetics on these medieval war horses is the duct tape holding the inner boots together. We started up at first light. It was windy, but relatively warm. Stuart and Sherpa were keeping the clouds at bay. The climb can be broken up into five sections: The approach slope (which is most of it), the couloir, a short mixed pitch above the top of the couloir, the upper snowfield, and the summit ridge traverse. The approach slope went much easier in snowshoes. The couloir itself offered fine, secure step kicking, with one little bottleneck requiring a few easy ice moves. What little ice we encountered other than that; small amounts between rocks, was grape nuts. We attempted a bypass to the upper snowfield about 100 feet below the top of the NE couloir, but sugar snow over slab returned us to the couloir proper. This sugar snow/grape nuts ice combination characterized all the mixed climbing on the route. Don spotted a descent route which wound up going easily: after a single rope rap down a shitty gully (and climbing back up shitty gully to get my forgotten ax) to Colchuk’s large south slope, traverse the Argonaut – Colchuck ridge for a short ways to a snow capped ridge heading north. Traverse and descend that ridge for a 100 feet or so before dropping off it’s west side and back to the base of the NE couloir. All day we enjoyed being in the eye of the storm; plenty of wind, surrounded by clouds, but blue bird skies above. No precipitation fell during our visit, although there was quite a bit of wind deposition going on. Thanks to Jiri, Kevin, Dave, Keith, and Eric, all of whom we saw in our way in, for beta on the conditions. “These snowshoes suck”. Don ascending to the base of the couloir Sunrise on Sherpa Argonaut Don in the couloir: asleep or frozen solid? Don topping out on the mixed section The author ascending the upper snowfield Don reaching the summit ridge. Colchuk in the background The author demonstrating his signature Enumclaw technique on the summit ridge traverse The author negotiating the final Obama Step to the summit block Don: tanned, rested, and ready for anything on the summit Architecturally, you can’t beat Argonaut’s summit Don descending Sherpa Gear Notes: We broke out the rope for 2 single rope raps; one down the mixed pitch below the upper snowfield, and one to get down to Colchuck's southern slope. Somebody might take a pencil up for the summit register. The lone pen is either frozen or kaput. Approach Notes: We skied the road, stashed them, then switched to snowshoes, which were most helpful after the Colchuk/Mountaineer's Creek trail junction. Edited March 19, 2008 by tvashtarkatena Quote
jon Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 I always enjoy your TRs and pictures. Nice work! Quote
AlpineMonkey Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 glad you didn't encounter any crux dinos Quote
scottgg Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Cool report! Tvash, I noticed your lugging the BD Speed pack... I use one also and I was wondering if you crammed all your stuff in that for an overnighter, or was that your "summit pack"? Quote
Bug Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Cool report! Tvash, I noticed your lugging the BD Speed pack... I use one also and I was wondering if you crammed all your stuff in that for an overnighter, or was that your "summit pack"? When we ran into them on the trail on our way out, Tvash was using his BD and had "a few things" outside. Don had a huge pig on his back and was probably carrying most of Tvash's stuff. Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted March 19, 2008 Author Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) Cool report! Tvash, I noticed your lugging the BD Speed pack... I use one also and I was wondering if you crammed all your stuff in that for an overnighter, or was that your "summit pack"? The Speed carried my overnight gear comfortably. I had to drape the rope under the pack lid, and strap my helmet, foam pad, and crampons to the outside on the way up, so I didn't pass the 'Eurokewl' test, but those fuckers never carry overnight gear anyway. Don and I split group gear pretty equally, so scientists are still trying to determine what filled his gargantuan pack. Saddam's fallen statue? A live goat? 2000 feet of bail runners? He did have an Alaskan style down parka the size of a small cumulus cloud, but other than that he didn't seem to have any noticeably bulky items at camp. The lowest moment of the trip for me was when he asked me to help him get his pack just before skiing down the road. I swear to God I was frightened of that thing. A vision of my broken body being dragged behind a rescue snowmobile on a back board flashed before my eyes. Edited March 19, 2008 by tvashtarkatena Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted March 19, 2008 Author Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) glad you didn't encounter any crux dinos Nope. Didn't see any wildlife to speak of. Edited March 19, 2008 by tvashtarkatena Quote
Bug Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Don and I split a live goat but other than that he didn't seem to have any noticeably bulky items at camp. Come clean on the goat thing man. Quote
kevino Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Cool report! Tvash, I noticed your lugging the BD Speed pack... I use one also and I was wondering if you crammed all your stuff in that for an overnighter, or was that your "summit pack"? The Speed carried my overnight gear comfortably. I had to drape the rope under the pack lid, and strap my helmet, foam pad, and crampons to the outside on the way up, so I didn't pass the 'Eurokewl' test, but those fuckers never carry overnight gear anyway. Don and I split group gear pretty equally, so scientists are still trying to determine what filled his gargantuan pack. Saddam's fallen statue? A live goat? 2000 feet of bail runners? He did have an Alaskan style down parka the size of a small cumulus cloud, but other than that he didn't seem to have any noticeably bulky items at camp. The lowest moment of the trip for me was when he asked me to help him get his pack just before skiing down the road. I swear to God I was frightened of that thing. A vision of my broken body being dragged behind a rescue snowmobile on a back board flashed before my eyes. I thought it looked like he had a bbq on top. Quote
marek Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Hey, Anyone got a frontal picture of the route, or more route description? Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted March 19, 2008 Author Posted March 19, 2008 Spot the couloir on the hike in. It's obvious. Climb the couloir to it's end. Hang a right up a pitch of 4th class mixed stuff. You'll see rap slings at the top from below. Traverse up and as far right (west) as you can go on the upper snowfield until you reach the summit ridge. Traverse west on the summit ridge until you're on top. Quote
ericb Posted March 19, 2008 Posted March 19, 2008 Here's a TR with some photos of the route to match TTK's description... http://sverdina.com/argonaut/argonaut1.htm Looks like a cool route Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted March 20, 2008 Author Posted March 20, 2008 (edited) Parties this time of year who don't want to take the 5.6 rock pitch mentioned in the sverdinka TR to attain the upper snowfield (the steep slabs are covered with sugar snow, most of which has been kicked off by our failed attempt) can ascend the NE Couloir to the very end and take a much easier 4th class pitch to the upper snowfield. Edited March 20, 2008 by tvashtarkatena Quote
marek Posted March 20, 2008 Posted March 20, 2008 tvashtarkatena Thanx! I found that link too. Nice job you guys did; its been on my list for a while. Safe Travels! Quote
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