jesselillis Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) Trip: Dragontail - Triple Couloirs Date: 4/29/2012 Trip Report: time elevation landmark/event 1230 2100 leave car, start hiking 1400 3400 trailhead 1440 4000 bridge over creek 1500 4500 Colchuck trail split 1630 5570 arrive at lake 1715 5572 finish setting up camp 1900 5571 dinner 2100 5570 in tent, trying to sleep – 0330 5570 wake up 0415 5571 leave camp 0610 6350 start up first couloir 0730 6700 bottom of runnels 1030 7000 top of runnels; bottom of 2nd couloir 1130 7400 top of 2nd couloir; bottom of transition to 3rd couloir 1220 7550 Jesse bottom of third couloir 1240 7550 Jesse finishes building anchor 1310 7550 Dan bottom of third couloir 1430 8350 top of third couloir 1530 8550 summit 1730 5572 back to camp 1830 5570 hiking out 2015 3400 trailhead 2200 2098 back to car 2215 2100 start drive back 0045 0290 back in Seattle Narrative Snowshoes to ~6000ft, donned crampons and roped up with kiwi coils and ~80 feet of rope between us. First couloir and found excellent neve snow, easy to kick steps and get something akin to purchase with ice tools. ~200 feet into first couloir, first of two additional parties (actually one group of four, climbing as two parties) passed us, moving quickly through the center of the couloir. That party anchored to await their second party at base of runnels. Runnels were in adequate condition to climb, but not proctectable ice. We pitched this section out (4 pitches). 1st: trivial (firm snow in rock dihedral), 2nd: one tricky mixed move (M3), 3rd: overhanging mixed (M6?) move that caused us to traverse left around it (to a poor gear anchor), 4th: most akin to ice, unprotectable (WI2+) to above crux (unnerving due to poor anchor below). Dan led 2nd couloir rapidly (2 pickets in ~600 feet). Mixed (M2) transition to the third couloir- wasted a ton of time looking for decent gear. Dan led last couloir and another ~200 feet of easy snow/mixed brought us to the summit. Descent: about 90 minutes. Snow varied from steep and hard to postholing. Retrospective thoughts: - Walking separately across a frozen lake is a bad idea - We got pretty lucky on the snow conditions and the weather. The sun came out while we were in the third couloir and the snow got soft quickly. Some clouds spared us some of the potential for deterioration, but disconcerting evidence of loose wet slides was apparent on multiple aspects of nearby peaks. - The rock is awful. Wasted tons of time scraping away at it looking for decent gear placements for anchors. Piton placement attempts dislodged rock. - When to rope up on a climb like this is still a tricky decision. While climbing in the (largely unprotected) couloirs a (unlikely) leader fall would have likely killed both of us, though a (potentially lethal) second fall could likely be arrested by a leader. If both climbers of equal ability, perhaps better to climb unroped? But then, what to do with the rope? In and out of a pack would be a hassle/time sink. Gear Notes: avy gear, 70m 8.1mm rope, BD cams .5-2, nuts 4-11, 3 pitons, 4 screws (2x 10, 13cm), 2 pickets, 8 double runners, alpine bod harness, 1 BD viper, 1 Petzl Aztar Approach Notes: Road to trailhead closed, no snow apparent from road. I brought a kids sled with the hope of sledding out the return on the snow covered road if it were closed. No luck, left it in the car. ~2+ miles on bare (easily bikable/drivable) road, then another 1+ with increasing snow cover to TH. From TH to lake, passed exiting lone female (no gear, not interested in chatting) and a group of 4 exiting snowsliders (3 AT, 1 splitboard) who reported marginal sliding conditions on their overnight stay. Found slowshoes to be best means of approach given conditions. Edited May 3, 2012 by jesselillis Quote
DPS Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 So, does than mean you didn't find my 12 year old pin? But seriously, great job. The route is very conditional I've climbed it twice, once is super sketchy conditions taking the North Face Bowl variation where I thought I might die and another time that via the thicky iced runnels which was an easy 14 hour CTC jaunt. Quote
jstreet Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 Our foursome followed you up the route... here are some photos I took of you guys... Coming up the first couloir Climbing the first pitch of the runnels Climbing the last pitch of the runnels Way up there at the top of the second couloir Climbing the step between the second and third couloirs Quote
SmilingWhiteKnuckles Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 Looks really cool. Thanks for posting. Quote
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