[TR] Colchuck Peak - South Route 6/17/2012

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Trip: Colchuck - South Route

 

Date: 6/17/2012

 

Trip Report:

 

My friends IW, KL, and DS were planning to climb the NW Arête of Argonaut this weekend with me, but had an anxious eye on a weird weather forecast: Sat had a high freezing level and 50% chance of precip. Sunday had a much lower freezing level (8500 feet), less precip (30%), but high winds. We decided to give it a shot anyways, as it beats mowing the lawn.

 

We hiked up from the Stuart Lake TH and found the spur trail before the switchbacks. Soon we were at the same log crossing Mountaineer Creek that I have used in the past, and ascended the benches following cairns to the talus fields. Here we opted to drop immediately to the creek and followed it upstream until we thought we were right below Argonaut.

 

Following Mountaineer Creek:

 

We then found a suitable log crossing and began moving up hill. We soon hit a second stream, and then came into the open - with a view of a sea of bushwhacking hell ahead of us. Feeling crafty we skirted the trees we just left behind before heading up and minimized our damage, finding some talus patches before ending on talus and snow fields forever.

 

View up bushwhacking and beyond:

 

The whole approach offered up great weather - warm but not too warm, and sunny, with some clouds. The peaks were in clouds most of the day, however. Winds were light. Was NOAA again full of crap, like so many times this year?

 

We ascended the N basin of Argonaut looking for camps at 6000 or 6400 feet and never found them. At 6800, on a nasty moraine we finally gave up and cleared a few very small bivy sites.

 

 

As we prepared dinner, the weather came in - first fog, then rain, then wind. NOAA was right after all. Suckage was high, and melting snow was agonizingly slow. Eventually we finished our preps and retired - not too optimistic for the next day and a possible rainy retreat.

 

KL bracing against the weather:

 

KK and IW embracing the suck:

 

It rained much of the night and the winds were high. None of us got much sleep and we worried our bivy poles would snap.

 

In the morning the skies were more like the previous day - mostly clear with clouds floating by quickly and the peaks sometimes obscured.

 

View up the gully to the NW Arete:

 

Another morning view:

 

We hemmed and hawed and finally decided that the NW Arete might not be the wisest decision with the weird weather. We also agreed that packing up and retreating blew. So we opted to pack up our stuff and head up... towards the ridge above and hopefully the Argonaut-Colchuck col.

 

The slope increased to 35 and 40 degrees with firm snow. It appeared to dead-end, so I took over kicking steps leftwards onto rocks and loose class 3 scrambling intermixed with some snow patches and icy parts. Eventually I sniffed out a way to the ridge and we were at the col! Carrying the full packs did suck a bit, that is for sure.

 

KL at the Argonaut-Colchuck col:

 

From here we dropped about 400 feet, rounded the toe of a ridge and headed climbers left towards the S Face of Colchuck. We encountered more slopes in the 35-40 degree range which then mellowed as we approach a serious of false summits until the real summit finally came into view.

 

KL on the South Face:

 

 

KL looking for the summit:

 

KL at the summit:

 

At this point the sun decided to take its leave, the summit became cloudy and cold and windy as hell. Perhaps we had made the right call to forgo the NW Arête...

 

Argonaut less clear now:

 

We shivered a bit up there in the cold as we ate and drank, and then made our way down the standard route towards the Dragontail-Colchuck col and sun. From here some nice glissading brought us to the lake, the trail, the car, and München Haus.

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe, crampons.

 

Approach Notes:

We took the faint trail along Mountaineer Creek.

[mhux]

nice work! bailed from backbone on sat but didn't bring an ice ax to make a snow climb out of anything...good to see you had a solid backup plan!

[BootsandPants]

I was wondering if you guys were going to give it a go or not with the weird weather. Sherpa went for us, but we were in a cloud most of the day. Rain and a little bit of snow made it interesting.

 

Glad you salvaged the day and had a good time!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I was wondering if you guys were going to give it a go or not with the weird weather. Sherpa went for us, but we were in a cloud most of the day. Rain and a little bit of snow made it interesting.

 

Glad you salvaged the day and had a good time!

 

We also considered the NE couloir but it looked to have a few rock bands and one of our party was not feeling up to that.

 

Did you guys summit on Sunday then? We got glimpses of Sherpa and your route throughout the day. Nice job!

[LukeShy]

That's cool you guys got something did in the odd weather. I was one of the four that showed up at the moraine in the middle of the rain storm. We wondered where you guys went Sunday morning. After 'sleeping' in, we decided to just bail, and we did a lap on R&D on our way out of icicle creek.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

That's cool you guys got something did in the odd weather. I was one of the four that showed up at the moraine in the middle of the rain storm. We wondered where you guys went Sunday morning. After 'sleeping' in, we decided to just bail, and we did a lap on R&D on our way out of icicle creek.

 

Yeah, you guys arrived at the worst possible time to set up camp. I don't blame you for sleeping in.

 

A party of two came up in the morning while we headed out. They went up the NE Couloir. Did you see them?

[LukeShy]

Huh, no we didn't see them at all, I guess we slept right through them coming through the camp area. I couldn't really hear anything but the wind blowing against my bivy.

[BootsandPants]

Did you guys summit on Sunday then? We got glimpses of Sherpa and your route throughout the day. Nice job!

 

Yep, we clawed our way up the wet, slippery ridge and were on top around 1030.

[Gaucho Argentino]

Good job out there "embrazing" the suck!! Lovely PNW!!