danhelmstadter Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Trip: Colchuck - NorthFace/NBC Date: 6/30/2010 Trip Report: north face colchuck, PICTURE FROM APRIL 2010 ^^^picture is from april, but coverage yesterday was still FAT! I had climbed and skiied Colchuck's North Buttress Couloir back in March - unaware that there was a sick face above. Weather this spring has not yeilded a good corn cycle in the local area thus far, the snow I skiied yesterday was almost corn, close enough, and it probably will be gone-melted within a week. I left around 8am with cloudy sky's overhead, the FR level overnight had been forecasted to be under 6k, and it felt like it. Knowing that any snow above would be well morphed by M/F cycles, and the route being multi-aspected, I knew I needed warmer temps and SUN. I waited on a rocky bench over looking the Stuart Range for several hours - drifting in and out of slumber - as the clouds slowly gave way. Temps warmed quickly, snowline started on the far bank of the lake. Low in the couloir, I encountered a rock step, which required some trickyish moves esp. with skis, then found continous snow to the col, albeit with some minor runnels. The traverse to the face was almost entierly snow. The face held excellant corn/proto corn. I found icy/firm conditions up high in the little gully connecting the top of the face to the summit region. My video speaks well for my descent. [video:youtube] drop'n the couloir rappin the rock step with webbing and a munter hitch the upper face Quote
AlpineK Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Bad ass as usual Dan The bottom of the chute looked crazy + narrow. Quote
AllYouCanEat Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 You are killing it dan! Nice work. Thx for the stoke. Quote
telemarker Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Way to include the sandpiper in that last photo. A couple dudes base jumped from that a couple years ago. Crazy! Quote
lunger Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 right on, Dan, dig that line. We noticed it looked nicely skiable when up there last weekend to climb NE Buttress on Colchuck. Should've brought skis too. and thanks telemarker, I was trying to remember the name of that feature...hard to believe someone would BASE off that thing! Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Incredible! Dude you are seriously my hero! You will be spoken of in my circle of friends as a legend. The video is kick ass! Quote
cascadesdj Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Ballsy. Who's the lady singer and what's the song? Quote
dbconlin Posted July 3, 2010 Posted July 3, 2010 Holy shit! That line is sickly thin...looks more stressful than fun, to be honest - but what a frickin line. Way to go! ...how long are those skis? Quote
Kyle_Flick Posted July 4, 2010 Posted July 4, 2010 Dan if you left your helmet on the route, we found it. The Couloir was fun to climb, but looked scary steep and narrow in places for skiing. I still have trouble wrapping my mind around anyone wanting to go down stuff like that where falling is not an option. The upper North face seemed more appealing as a ski since it was more open and still held nice corn snow. Quote
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