KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Trip: Colchuck and Dragontail Combo - Colchuck Glacier Date: 6/15/2008 Trip Report: Last year My friends CC, BundledUpSurfer and I made an attempt on Dragontail as a one-day consolation prize for a canceled Rainier climb. We got confused up at Pandora's Box thinking we were off route and ended up empty-handed after a 13.5 hour car-to-car. So CC and I decided to do a revenge climb of the route as a one-day again - and throw in Colchuck for good measure. I had hoped to do this climb Sat but was still shaking a nasty cold I had had all week, so I gave myself an extra day and went for a Father's Day climb instead. CC and I drove up to the Colchuck TH on Sat evening and arrived at a mostly full parking lot at dusk. We threw down a tent to car camp and chatted with two guys who had just come down the trail - as it turns out it was the two guys who had posted the TR for the Flagpole and they had gone back to do it again. We told them of our plans and chatted about the options at Pandora's Box. Last year we had hit a 60+ degree cornice and didn't realize that was the right spot. We talked about the gulley that you can scramble as an alternate. I then enjoyed some Irish whiskey, set my alarm for 4 am, and crashed. We hit the trail at about 4:50, and made good time up to the lake arriving before 7. We could see a few parties making their way up the Colchuck Glacier. We didn't see anyone headed up the Aasgard pass route or any other routes. We headed up to the col. There was snow from the lake all the way up to the col, and it was perfect for cramponing. The snow was firm and icy in places, but not slick ice. The sun was hitting the very bottom of the moraine, but it hadn't softened even that up yet. I mostly went straight up and CC did a lot of zig-zagging. There was a good boot path and we mostly followed it. We passed one guy who looked sketched and was trying to go back down. This is a rare photo: CC lagging behind me. It never happens. By the time we hit the col (about 9:30), some parties were coming down from Colchuck. I wanted to head up immediately with no rest and CC wanted a brief rest so we made our own way up at our own pace. The first section was melted out, but I kept my crampons on since I could see more snow up ahead. There was a large group (or two?) coming down. Some looked really tentative and sketched on the snow. It turned out to be very soft with huge bucket steps and I motored up it. Crampons were not needed. Above that where the route gets flat again, there was snow and dirt/rock on and off. I kept going and summited - too lazy to take crampons off. This was at about 10:30. CC followed soon after, and proceeded to eat/drink and then nap. We hung out for 35-40 minutes at the summit, which we had to ourselves the whole time. It was chilly but not uncomfortable. Skies were perfect blue, and quite clear. KK on Colchuck's summit: Some views from Colchuck: We headed back down to the col and arrived fairly quickly - maybe 30 minutes. We greeted a party of two who were coming up and who we'd see later but mostly people were clearing out on the mountain by then (noonish). The steep snow was easy to down climb. We then traversed high on the dirt/rocks climber's left of the col (no dropping down) and started up the snow to Pandora's Box. There was a well-defined boot path but it was most recently from folks coming down and it sucked to try and go up the plunge-steps and standing glissade tracks. CC motored ahead and set up an awesome new path with generous zig-zagging. I was lagging at this point and was 10+ minutes behind when he topped out. As I passed by the gully near the top, it was obvious where it started, with some boots headed that way - unlike last year when we saw no tracks anywhere on the route. We arrived at Pandora's Box. This year the cornice at Pandora's Box was much lower than what we encountered last June. A big piece seemed to have broken off on the outside and fallen away. There was a rap station a few feet below the top of the cornice and it looked like many people had rappeled down about 100 feet and then did the traverse towards the summit. This didn't look appealing. There was a much nicer alternate - a well defined bootpath along the top of the cornice hugging the rock with enough indentation to make you feel secure (a trough maybe 8 inches deep and a foot wide). At the end of this you could hold onto a flake, step down onto a solid snow step and step across to rock with another sold flake for a handhold on the left. Don't fall here! Then you are on the normal ridge/scramble portion, which we followed to snow, dropped down maybe 40 feet and traversed all the way to below the summit before scrambling up on rock. We arrived at the summit around 1:40, and hung out for well over an hour. Again, we had the summit to ourselves when we arrived. The two guys we saw before joined us briefly and it turns out that they were doing the same combo route we were, but were not lingering on the summits. Then a guy came up from Aasgard as we were leaving. By now the temps had risen and it was very warm and still a perfect bluebird day. KK and CC on the summit of Dragontail: View down to the Enchantments: We quickly got down to the top of Aasgard, and got some short glissade runs in. But between Aasgard and the lake really sucked. We stayed to the left (facing down) all the way. The snow was in the shade and hard in a lot of places, it was melting out with water running right under the route, and constrictions/bad runouts in several spots. We tried to glissade and plunge step and alternate that with downclimbing the rock bands, but started having problems with our footing, so we put crampons back on. I had to face in the snow for 2-3 short sections. CC slipped at least twice and had to arrest. We were getting tired at this point - around 11 or 12 hours into our day. Here's a view below the last of these spots: Even the gentler angled snow at the bottom was a bear to get over. One positive thing about our descent - we didn't see any rock fall. Here's a view up from near the bottom: Near the lake shore we got off trail somehow and had to scramble over rocks and do some bushwacking before we found cairns again. More wasted energy and slowdowns. The trail through the campsites confused us in a couple spots and we wasted some time there before finally heading down the trail proper. A final view before heading out: Our pace slowed a bit and we got to the car around 7:50 - almost exactly a 15 hour day. We grabbed a bite to eat in Leavenworth, and I got a coffee for the drive home. We were on the road at dusk and I had to brake hard for two deer. I actually bumped one pretty hard as I slowed from 55 all the way to a stop, but it ran off apparently unhurt. Got home late and crashed hard. I didn't even have time to enjoy a beer! Approximate Timeline: 4:50 start 7:00 lake 9:30 col 10:30 Colchuck summit 11:30 col 1:40 Dragontail summit 2:45 start down 7:50 at the car Gear Notes: Crampons, ice axe, trekking poles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt_3pin Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice TR. Looks like a good day in the hills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweatinoutliquor Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Schweet pics dude. Looks like an awesome little romp up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. hey, now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevino Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. hey, now... Just imagine if they were the ones bivying on the summit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. hey, now... Just imagine if they were the ones bivying on the summit... irony: look at Bug's avatar, then his comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnClimbr Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I can't believe how much that snow melted off in just a few weeks. What were the temps up there? Man, last weekend was gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 I can't believe how much that snow melted off in just a few weeks. What were the temps up there? Man, last weekend was gorgeous! It felt like high 40's on Colchuck before noon and high 60's a few hours later on Dragontail. It was easily in the 70's lower down on the hike out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. hey, now... Just imagine if they were the ones bivying on the summit... irony: look at Bug's avatar, then his comment. My avatar is designed to gross out those who post soft porn as their avatars. I have to shut off viewing avatars at work so I don't get dinged for viewing pron. The option is available to everyone. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaskadskyjKozak Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! Thanks for the pics. Matching pants, gators and hats. hmmmmm. hey, now... Just imagine if they were the ones bivying on the summit... irony: look at Bug's avatar, then his comment. My avatar is designed to gross out those who post soft porn as their avatars. I have to shut off viewing avatars at work so I don't get dinged for viewing pron. The option is available to everyone. Enjoy! sure, Bug, whatever you say. sickie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Dude - just missed you out there. Good job on Father's day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.