[TR] Lincoln Peak - x couloir (2nd descent) 7/8/2012

danhelmstadter · July 10, 2012

Trip: Lincoln Peak - x couloir (2nd descent)

Date: 7/8/2012

Trip Report:

Lincoln peak is difficult to see in profile, from Anacortes, it looks like part of Mt. Baker, from the Glacier area, it looks like a bump on Heliotrope ridge, A couple months ago, I was skiing north of Glacier in the Border Peaks region I saw Lincoln standing steep and prominent.

My friend Aaron Scott had skied the X couloir a couple of weeks ago and took some pretty pictures, It looked like a fun route with plenty of steeps and a wild summit, I was excited to take a closer look.

I ran into my friend Oyvind near the trail head, he said he heard that the grouse creek approach had melted out, so I parked at the picnic tables at the end of the road, then contoured around the ridge, shwacking in places to gain Heliotrope proper, then dropped into thunder basin enjoyed a tranquil bivy below Lincoln.

I got going around 430am, there was rockfall from the start, Lincoln is quite the choss pile. I brought along a rope, some gear and a second tool, but didn't need to use any of it. The summit was awesome, I was stoked to soak in the view up there while the sun hit and softened the route below. I saw a large cornice softly let go from it's hold on a ridge-line ten feet away, I saw dozens of climbers filing up the standard route on Baker, I saw a lenticular over Rainier and smoke from the stacks on Fidalgo Island.

The tip top of the summit was rock, but I was able to ski from about 10 feet below, where I quickly encountered a very steep and narrow-tricky choke that led to the top of the upper couloir. Snow was in good condition, pretty much predictable summer corn, the upper chute led to a steep snowfield then another chute. I had to take my skis off and down-climb 10 feet of unskiable rock and ice at the top of the lower chute, then enjoyed schlarping the exposed steeps all the way past the shrund, where slopes moderated.

John Scurlock photo, higher reaches of Lincoln - Upper half of x couloir visible in photo.