NE Buttress, Colchuck Peak in Winter?

[DPS]

Anybody know if the NE Buttress on Colchuck has been climbed in winter? Looking at photos of it in winter it looks like it does not really form ice, just snowed up rock.

Edited November 16, 2011 by DPS

[G-spotter]

it looks like it does not really form ice, just snowed up rock.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing?

[kukuzka1]

Dont think its been done, be a nice prize.

[Dannible]

It hasn't as far as I know. Jens Holsten and I have gone up to try it a few times and each time it was too powdery. Strange sunless aspect so the snow just sits there, not shedding or hardening much at all. The one time that we actually got on it the first pitch was really hard mixed and thin aid, and the next pitch involved a pendulum to tricky mixed and a big unstable snow mushroom which stopped us. It took us half the day to get that far, so I called it (we didn't have bivy gear). The crux would probably be the slabby bits around mid height. They would have to be covered in firm snow (which like I said rarely works out there) or dry so that you could smear. Or maybe you could find a way around it. There is a snow arete up high where you gain the crest that will be really cool.

 

We are gonna keep trying. A warm dry spell that melts some snow could make it relatively casual, but that's pretty rare (but when it happens stuff like this gets done). In the spring it is probably a lot more doable, but spring and winter climbing are different things.

[sobo]

I smell a tick-war coming up this winter. Only 23 more days to go before the hostilities begin...

[Dannible]

The reason it hasn't been done is because of whats across the way from there. It always looks more inviting:

 

 

And here's Colchuck (the red line is a good backup plan for potential NEBers):