coldiron Posted November 10, 2013 Posted November 10, 2013 The road to the TH is open, with packed snow and decent conditions as of Saturday night. The trail is snow-covered but fast up to the lake. Travel above the lake is slow; it's at that intermediate stage where the rocks are somewhat covered, but lots of slippery rock underneath and big holes to step in. Skis will not help you anywhere, unless you're going up just to ski the glacier. Watch out for windslab in the couloirs. We observed whoomphing and fracture propagation in the Colchuck NBC yesterday. It was scary enough that we pushed a couple mixed pitches up the side to avoid the snow and eventually bailed. Lots of wind-loading looks to have occurred over the week- some extreme wallowing was endured! Quote
TyClimber Posted November 10, 2013 Posted November 10, 2013 How filled in was the NBC? Would it still involve mixed climbing or is it just a snow climb at this point? Did you get a decent look at the triple couloirs on dragontail? Thanks! Quote
coldiron Posted November 11, 2013 Author Posted November 11, 2013 Yes, still lots of mixed steps and ice is forming nicely. Also, I ran up the trail today to below the lake and it was quite warm- lots of melting going on. I'm not sure how warm it was up high, but I think there's a good chance it may have settled out that wind slab. I couldn't tell much about TC conditions yesterday, but the Cotter-Bebie route on D-tail right across from me had lots of early ice forming up. Quote
Riley81 Posted November 21, 2013 Posted November 21, 2013 anyone have any new info on the conditions since the dump last weekend? Quote
wetslide Posted November 22, 2013 Posted November 22, 2013 Yes Riley. Hiked up to the lake Tuesday. At the lake there's probably 2-3 inches of snow, more higher naturally. Might head up there and check out Colchuck NBC. I'll update. Quote
billbob Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 Open all the way to SL t.h., trail up is slick in spots. Quote
Woodcutter Posted November 27, 2013 Posted November 27, 2013 (edited) Cotter Bebie line. Looks better photographed than in reality The Wasson Wilson smear start Lump of rock without much ice Edited November 27, 2013 by Woodcutter Quote
Dannible Posted December 16, 2013 Posted December 16, 2013 No. Also, the Icicle looks like it's late March right now. Quote
kevino Posted December 16, 2013 Posted December 16, 2013 Copy that. So is the road skinable? Trying to talk myself into bad decisions when I'm back next week. Quote
Dannible Posted December 16, 2013 Posted December 16, 2013 Probably mostly. It is for sure down low, and I'd bet that it's a little patchy on the open hillside part, then it will be snowy once it levels off. I was told today that the trail has very little coverage (though I'm sure it's skinable). I have a theory that the best/most accessible skiing around will be somewhere up high in those parts. Quote
Alex Posted December 17, 2013 Posted December 17, 2013 It's December and it's been very dry, so you should just go and not worry about it Quote
kevino Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 (edited) To those wondering: You can walk from Icicle creek road to colchuck lake in tennis shoes. No more 1" of snow on the trail. Lots of ice to slip on. Aasgard pass and colchuck glacier look like october with a fresh dusting. Travel is fast right now, took us under three hours to go from the rd to colchuck lake. All in all, a nice 14 mile hike with skis on my back! Edited December 27, 2013 by kevino Quote
Marko Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 Thanks for the note. And how did the routes on Dragontail look? Quote
kevino Posted December 28, 2013 Posted December 28, 2013 Looked like dry snow over rock. If this helps at all: Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.