[TR] Colchuck - NE Couloir 5/23/2010

[AlpinWeiss]

Trip: Colchuck - NE Couloir

 

Date: 5/23/2010

 

Trip Report:

My buddy Clint was in town this weekend and we wanted to get on some steep snow/ice in preparation for an upcoming trip to Peru. Since the weather wasn't great we headed out east to Colchuck.

 

We left a map or any route description at home so the only beta we had was the very sparse Becky description we read before we left Seattle. I also left the watch in the tent to add to adventure. On our way up we heard from numerous people that a party on Saturday had been "ejected" from the couloir due to cornice fall. I'm still not sure how you can be kicked out of this thing without death or significant injury, but apparently they were alright. We had nothing fall on us and were fortunately under clouds for most of the climb, until it cleared as we topped out.

 

We headed up the route and found deepish snow (boot penetration of 8" or so) and ice with a thin coating of snow in bits. Most of the snow was in good shape except for a few bits at the top with disconcertingly unconsolidated snow and nothing for good pick placements. We soloed almost the whole route except for the traverse out right just before the top which had some of the aforementioned marginal snow. We roped for the traverse and put in a knifeblade to protect it (pickets would be close to worthless). We up-roped and finished up the climb and short scramble to the summit.

 

There aren't really any rest spots on the route and it's pretty consistent grade for the whole thing. It steepens for the last traverse pitch - Becky calls it 60 degrees, but it felt more like 70-75 to me.

 

Descent down the Colchuck Glacier was uneventful. Would have been great skiing up high yesterday as I'm sure many folks can attest to.

 

~2/3 of the way up:

 

Post Traverse:

 

Our party topping out (photo courtesy of zoroastr):

 

 

Gear Notes:

Used one picket and 3 knifeblades (two for a belay), a 30m rope.

 

Approach Notes:

Mostly snow (would be mostly miserable to ski though) on the approach. The Lake was walkable on Sunday if you chose your entrance/exit carefully, but is pretty close to being done for the season.

[zoroastr]

Nice day in the hills--for a while at least. We were planning to repeat our traverse from Colchuck over to D-Tail along the pretty connecting ridge, but after messing around on 'Chuck for a bit, the weather started really closing in, so we just booted back down the col and headed out in the rain / snow...

This shot is a bit of a "where's Waldo," but your party can be seen topping out in the upper left of the frame--congrats!

 

[Pilchuck71]

Nice!

The photos are great.

Especially the shots of your party by Zoroastr.

How cool to get shots of yourself from a 3rd person perspective.

Lucky!

Cheers!

 

[zoroastr]

My buddy Erick snapped this shot of me scrambling to get a better view of the real climbers (Andrew and pal) in the NE couloir. ...came out nice, dontcha think? heh.

 

[summitchaserCJB]

That's how it's done.

[JasonG]

Nice work on the direct finish. I think most folks (myself included) traverse left into a gulley, just before the top. Later in the season, your "disconcerting" snow is a rock slab and a bit tricky. I'll have to go back earlier, looks like nice way to go, although snow conditions sounded a bit exciting, considering the drop below.