[TR] Colchuck Lake Environs - 22 March 2014 - North Buttress Couloir 3/22/2014

[dave schultz]

Trip: Colchuck Lake Environs - 22 March 2014 - North Buttress Couloir

 

Date: 3/22/2014

 

Trip Report:

Voytek and I planned on skinning into Colchuck Lake on Friday and skiing couloirs on Dragontail and Colchuck on Saturday and Sunday. I have made this approach before in January and my feet were unaffected, this time they turned to hamburger by the time I got to the lake. We had an uneventful night spent on the frozen lake with lots of weird sounds from the ice. It was colder than anticipated, but the 15 degrees were still not too cold for my 30 degree bag. The morning came and Voytek said he wasn't feeling well, that he was probably coming down with a bug, but was willing to give it a go and see how it goes.

 

We probably entered the NCB a little too early and ended up making a rising leftward traverse to gain the couloir proper. The snow before the couloir was variable between hard supportive crust and a 3-6 inches of powder. The snow changed dramatically once we entered the couloir, it was very deep almost four feet before reaching a crust, and was nearly impossible to make upward progress. With Voytek not feeling 100% we decided that it was not worth the slog up the couloir, not to mention the heavy loading. I hacked out a platform and transitioned to ski what I could and Voytek downclimbed to where we transitioned from skinning to booting.

 

With Voytec in position to watch me make the first turns, I enjoyed what I think was the best run of the season, though it was short. There was significant sluff from the powder, but no cracks and nothing propagated. It went through one choke point and then into the open slope below, where I watched Voytek make his descent.

 

We decided to skin up a little higher to look at the Colchuck Glacier and the NEB. The NEB looked like a fantastic ski descent, and one I will definitely be back for. The glacier skied well on the lower half, the upper have was fairly windswept and hard.

 

With Voytek not feeling well and heading out, and with the couliors having more snow in them than anticipated, I opted to head out as well. The wife and dog would appreciate me being home for a change.

 

The skiing conditions were fantastic, fresh right-side-up snow nearly everywhere. We were really only interested in skiing the couloirs, which were not in the right condition.

 

We did see a lot of people hiking in on our way out Saturday afternoon. It seemed like a late start for weekend climbers, to be on the approach trail at 3pm on Saturday??

 

Things I learned:

-The skin up the road is pretty boring, but goes very fast, and may have been the cause for my feet (or the 50 degree temps); a snowmobile is now in the cards ...

-The Enchantments, and specifically the Colchuck area alone, has at least six tight and steep couloirs that I would like to ski.

-I have been missing out, every time I skied at Baker or Rainier, I should have been skiing in the Enchantments.

-The ski out, after the initial descent from the lake to about the first bridge crossing, is one of the most terrifying rides I have ever done.

-Voytek was a great partner, a real champ for getting done as much as he got done while feeling like crap. I look forward to climbing with him again.

 

Instability Notes:

-No real instability to speak of, based on several hand shear tests.

-There were signs of wet avalanches, but there was also fresh snow on top of the debris, indicating they were probably from the previous weekend's warm weather.

 

Gear Notes:

-Ski crampons mandatory in several places where it was windswept, as well as on final approach to the lake.

-Open bivy worked again.

 

Saturday afternoon, getting ready to ski out.

 

Thin, possible ski descent between Backbone Ridge and Serpentine Arete.

 

Possible ski descent near CBR.

 

NEC from middle of Colchuck Glacier. Looks like a steller line, can't wait to get back and ski it.

 

The NBC looking up from where we determined it would be a wallow-fest, and not worth it.

 

The NBC looking down.

 

A view from the Colchuck Glacier descent.

[telemarker]

In mid-winter conditions for the NBC, it's super easy to just ascend the glacier, summit Colchuck and drop in from the top. That way you get the bonus of skiing the NW Face and avoid the waist deep slogging up from the bottom of the couloir.

 

Also nice to see a healthy snowpack up there. Thanks for posting the photos.

[dave schultz]

In mid-winter conditions for the NBC, it's super easy to just ascend the glacier, summit Colchuck and drop in from the top.

 

I agree that summiting and dropping is definitely easier, especially in the conditions we found. Though having never been on the route at all, I didn't want to do it that way.

 

The snowpack looks like it will support many more weekends of fun descents. I'll certainly be back.

[kevino]

Ok I need clarification. While at the summer TH, I was told by another skier that a person was avalanched or fell out of the NBC on colchuck yesterday (saturday). Do you know anything about this?

[dave schultz]

Ok I need clarification. While at the summer TH, I was told by another skier that a person was avalanched or fell out of the NBC on colchuck yesterday (saturday). Do you know anything about this?

 

Hum ... We left the lake around 130pm, there were no other people in the area, and didn't see another skier coming up for quite a while. It's possible someone was climbing it well into the afternoon, but I think unlikely. The heat and sun could have significantly affected the snow in the coulior, though that is only speculation. Several climbers coming up said they were interested in the NBC, to whick we informed them of the deep wallowing snow.

 

I'd like to hear more about this, or if anyone had a report for Sunday's conditions.

[goran]

On the way out today, a party that climbed NBC today reported that they climbed a bed surface of styrofoam. The story they told was that a solo climber headed up the couloir yesterday after you guys took off. Apparently he was at the top of the couloir and went for quite a ride when it ripped, but was able to walk out on his own. I can't confirm what happened, personally, but I'm fairly confident that's the story as it was relayed to us.

 

I regrettably didn't ask what type of avy.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2014 by goran

[Blake]

The solo climber is fundamentally ok but very lucky. The couloir slid after he triggered an avy which propagated just a few feet below the cornice/ridge atop the couloir. He didn't stop until the debris petered out in the moraine well below the base of the route.

[Lukas]

i was part of the trio that climbed nbc on sunday. can confirm mostly styrofoam snow.

[Bronco]

The solo climber is fundamentally ok but very lucky. The couloir slid after he triggered an avy which propagated just a few feet below the cornice/ridge atop the couloir. He didn't stop until the debris petered out in the moraine well below the base of the route.

 

The victim was flushed top to bottom???

[mthorman]

Nice photos! Wow glad the outcome wasn't any worse in the avalanche. I was up climbing SGC on Stuart that day and we were definitely on high alert for avy conditions. Thankfully the couloirs we climbed for ascent and descent don't get that much sun and didn't have nearly that much unconsolidated snow.

[StephenW]

I was also one of the trio that climbed the NBC on Sunday. The avalanche was a wind slab I believe... The crown was probably just over a foot tall in the middle of the couloir and about half that high along the margins. The avy ripped the whole width of it. Later, I saw a few small areas of soft windslab on the lee side of minor rock features once we swung out onto the NW face. The snow in the final gully was dense powder (we sunk in to about mid-shin) that seemed stable. It was spooky to hear the story from a skier once we reached the summit...

[sdizzle25]

1. someone survived a ride down the entire NBC? nuts and thank god (if you are into that kind of thing).

2. hate to be that guy, but How was the N face of d-tail looking? runnels in? obviously alot has probably changed by curious as to what you guys found.

[Alex]

re: avy, glad the climber made it

re: snowmobile, Ive done it that way too and honestly all the futzing with the sled doesnt buy you much in the end over skis n skins

re: ski out, yeah hi value