jesselillis Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Trip: Dragontail - NE Couloir Date: 2/19/2011 Trip Report: PreTrip Thursday evening Jiri and I decided to climb. Sleeping at gate by ~930PM Friday. Approach Left car at 4AM as planned (brief encounter with Chad Kellog and Brittany (LN?) at car lot, planning to do Triple Couloir- did not see them again). Snowshoes on packs and bootpacked well-traveled road to TH (snowshoes after ~2 miles, ~2 inches slippery snow); arrived ~530AM (nice full moon for hike). Uneventful 2 miles to the trail split and another 2 to Colchuck lake (~750AM covered in ~8inches snow). Cross lake (~815AM) and started up in trees towards base of TC. Lots of snow up towards Asgaard pass (12-18 inches), some concerns re: snowpack and avy danger. Traversed high- almost at base of Dragontail, towards base of NEC. Snowpit (in pass): top ~24inches unconsolidated, then a hard 2inch crust, slightly weaker layer below; no clean layers broke on column test. Traversed across Asgaard Pass to continue ascent in trees for snow stabilization, ditched snowshoes and 1 pole each (kept 1 each for descent) and crossed the pass again to the base of NEC (~1020AM). Climb Snow in the couloir was far in excess of expectation- sinking to hip height for first ~300 feet vert; some discussion about our anticipated speed (very slow), unpreparedness/unwillingness to bivy and overall worthwhileness of climb. Deciding to slog to a 'constriction' in hopes of more consolidation, found sightly better conditions, but consistent slogging for 1000+ feet [Jiri was a machine through this as I felt progressively worse]. Climbing was unremarkable until ~1PM arrival at base of headwall (crux). Jiri graciously offered me this lead, which I took. Pitch was likely in M5 conditions, felt much more difficult for little gear and stable features absent/hidden by snow (presumably first of supposed 2 pitches of mixed climbing completely covered by snow). Jiri up behind me (3PM) and took off for what we made into 2 traversing pitches (steep and slippery) to notch below summit (5PM). Decided not to gun for summit (uncertain route-finding and time/light constraints). Descent Had to make 2 raps (free gear on route!) due to only bringing one rope. Back in pass ~540PM, back to snowshoes ~620PM, to lake by 7PM. You know the rest, it sucks. Car just after 11PM. Subjective 1 No route finding issues. Mostly slowed by my hiking and the amount of snow we encountered; also by the time each of our leads took- hard to find pro (loose snow covering sparsely protectable rock). 2 I really need to learn about ISO and taking photos in the snow. The views from the climb were phenomenal, but killed by my inability to work a camera. 3 In these conditions I was underwhelmed by this route. Long approach, unremarkable snog slog, and 1+ mind f* leads. Gear Notes: Gear rack- 4 screws (useless), 2 pickets, 3 tiny TCUs, .3,.5,1,2 camalots, nuts 4-10, 4 pitons* rope- 1 50m avy- shovel, beacon, probe *a better rack for our conditions would have been 6 tiny tcus, nuts 4-8, 4 pitons (no screws, no cams bigger than .4) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamelJockey Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Wow, way to get after it! Sounds like a "character building" climb. Way to stay tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiri Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Here are some pictures from Saturday. Triple Couloir entrance Traversing around Dragontail's base. The wind at Aasgard Pass was about SE depositing snow on our side The middle part of the cone was bottomless powder. The plan was to reach the constrictions above and turn around if things didn't improve Conditions got better the higher we went In some parts even the picks came in handy Jesse starting up the headwall Exiting at the top of the headwall The headwall was followed by two traversing pitches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) nice climb! glad to hear that you took advantage of the conditions and had a great climb, summit or not. Snowpit ...column test Edited February 22, 2011 by spionin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevetimetravlr Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Right on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treknclime Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Awesome photos...cool traverse shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveLeo Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Beautiful photos! Great looking trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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