Alex Stoll Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 Trip: Colchuck Peak - North Buttress Couloir Date: 1/18/2014 Trip Report: With less than awesome ski touring options, Charlie and I decided to go take a look at the Colchuck Lake area. We thought we might give the more difficult NE couloir a go, but I suggested we be a little more conservative this being our first climb of this style. After leaving our friend's cabin near Lake Wenatchee around 3:00 am, we arrived at a gated 8 mile road. Damn. I had thought that the ice discussed in previous reports had been melted by the recent warm temps, but no dice. After an hour on the somewhat icy road, followed by an hour and a half up icy trail then snow, we reached the lake. Such a dry year so far. There was better coverage in late spring last year when Calvin and I skied the glacier. A long slog around the lake and awful boulder-field post-holing brought us to the base of the corridor. The climbing was fairly secure in the soft snow with solid feet to stand on though the tools didn't find much to hold onto even when plunged. A few exciting bulges were passed (these get pretty filled in?) in which some real moves had to be made. The couloir eases at two thirds height and we kicked up to the saddle. Over on the north face we mostly just plowed upwards as it's all fairly similar. This ground was much more exciting than the couloir as there was varying coverage of sugar snow over the rock. Probably not bad when dry or with firm snow. Once off the face the summit is a 20 foot scramble off of a flat snowfield. It was so good to finally see the sun. I think it was around 1:00. The walk off and over to the main saddle was relaxing and enjoyable as we soaked up the sun and knew we had only a very long walk ahead. Glissading down the boulderfield was well worth the risk as it kept us from punching through. We found the trail at the base of the valley to be much slicker that it had been in the morning and proceeded to flail and fall our way to the trailhead. It went from barely light to dark about halfway back down 8 mile road which is actually four miles long. Maybe they mean "8 mile roundtrip road." It was much more slick than it had been in the morning, maybe caused by a thin layer of melted water. Charlie whistled "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" as the dark and icy treadmill seemed like it would never end. We fell back into the car around 6 and tried to stay awake for the drive back to the cabin where my girlfriend Hannah had hot spaghetti and sauce ready for us. Awesome. Gear Notes: Took gear so we could climb the NE couloir, half rope, pickets, nuts, a few small cams, and runners. Carried all that shit in our packs as we didn't find anything in the NBC that was worth the trouble of using it. Might as well have carried a watermelon to the top. Approach Notes: Quick for the distance covered, but the fun to pain ratio is probably much more favorable when you can avoid 8 miles of road walking. Quote
rob Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 Glissading down the boulderfield was well worth the risk as it kept us from punching through. Glissading with crampons? Tsk Tsk! I love this climb. Surprising how low the coverage is! Quote
Alex Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 8 Mile Road because it's around the 8-mile marker from town up the Icicle. Quote
Alex Stoll Posted January 22, 2014 Author Posted January 22, 2014 Compared to the soloing the crampons don't seem too dangerous but we probably should have taken the minute to pop em off. Quote
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