scottrinck Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Trip: Columbia Peak - West Face Date: 1/19/2013 Trip Report: Like many, I've long been captivated by John Scurlock's photo of the west face of Columbia Peak. Previous attempts have been aborted due to stability or coverage issues, but a week from last Saturday the conditions were ripe and in the company of Brian Fletcher, Erik Svege and Eric Wehrly, I was able to climb and ski this glorious line. Brian and I left Seattle at 3am on Friday. We covered the ground between Deer Creek and Monte Cristo with the help of headlamps and a brave snowmobile. The two Erics were already in the Monte Cristo area and had started out slightly ahead of us. Brian and I opted for a longer but more gradual approach by climbing west out of the Seventysix Creek drainage and gaining the west ridge of Columbia early, while Erik and Eric climbed the lower northwest face of Columbia hoping for a good look at the N. Couloir summit route. Eventually we all ended up on the summit in time for the snow to be nearly ideal for a long and exposed descent such as this. After bagging the summit, we started our ski descent about 50' below the actual high point which was unskiable in it's current state as a pile of loose rock and rime. We were able to ski continuously through all of the rock bands in the upper face and continued on that aspect until around 5600 feet where we turned the corner to the north and an exit via Seventysix creek and Monte Cristo. Visit my page for more photos and a video of the adventure: http://blog.scottrinck.com/freshies/freshies-columbia-peak-sw-face Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holk Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Way rad man! I've been following your images on the phone all week and it's cool to now read the report. Welcome to CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Scott- I checked out your site, and I'm quite impressed with your work (good job on the descent too!). Your images are inspiring, I have much to learn.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Great video,it's nice to hear the sounds of the wind and conversation with partners instead of a soundtrack sometimes. it would be cool to see a photo with your descent line indicated for future reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwallben Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 That totally made my day. Great video for a guy with a blown MCL stuck studying in library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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