[TR] Colfax Peak - Cosley-Houston 3/1/2015

[jefetronic]

Trip: Colfax Peak - Cosley-Houston

 

Date: 3/1/2015

 

Trip Report:

At 3:30am, Kelsey and I left the car at the trailhead to try out a car-to-car ascent of the Cosley-Houston. Hiking the trail all the way to the clearing near the ridge in approach shoes on March 1st felt both wrong and glorious. The rest of the approach in boots without crampons went quickly and we arrived at the base of the route at about 8am where a friend and her partner had spent the night after climbing the Cosley-Houston the day before. We roped up to cross the bergschrund and then pitched out the rambling first bit. Low-angle ice is quite the calf-burning experience and this pitch was no exception. Nevertheless, it was one-hit wonders the whole way and went quite quickly. I headed up to a belay just below and left of the crux pillar and brought Kelsey up on a pair of good screws. It was pretty cold that day, with a forecasted high of 20 degrees, so the belay parka came in quite handy.

 

The crux pillar was stellar, though pretty short. About 30 feet of WI4, with a few slightly overhanging moves, led to easier climbing and a snow ramp where I dug out a spot to bang in a picket and placed two pins for the belay, one of which made perfect rising-pitch pin noises and made me feel quite secure despite the kitty-litter rock. From there, I headed up and reached the second ice step, which was only about 20 feet tall and right around vertical. I belayed Kelsey up to a platform right at the base of the ice to protect the belay from falling snow and ice. The second pitch ice was fun enough that I let out a few whoops and ran it up to the rock buttress above where I got two good screws and brought her up.

 

The final pitch went smoothly, hugging the rock buttress on my left and getting good screws in the steep upper gully before topping out on the summit where I belayed Kelsey off a picket just before 1pm. The clouds were a bit ominous and the winds had picked up a bit, but it was still a nice place to be, with views out to Puget Sound and all around the Cascades. We followed boots down toward the secondary summit and eventually realized that the descent route followed around the South side of the secondary summit before heading down to the Colfax-Baker saddle. From there, it was a long walk out, but uneventful and we were down well before dark.

 

As Colin Haley mentioned in a recent post after climbing the Polish Route, Colfax affords some of the best alpine ice climbing around with easy access and a great ambiance. Go get it!

 

Colfax

 

Kelsey on her way up the first pitch

 

At the base of the second ice step

 

Leading the second ice step

 

Traversing to the exit ramp

 

Kelsey arriving at the summit

 

Descending from the summit

 

Gear Notes:

3 pins (used 2), 10 screws (used ~8), 3 pickets (used 1), 4 cams (used 0), small rack of nuts (used none)

 

Approach Notes:

Trail free enough of snow to make it to the clearing in approach shoes

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Nice pics. Thanks for kicking steps in spots, Tim and I were about 4 hours behind you (left Seattle at 4:15 am). We made it back to the car without headlamps but only barely.

 

I too tried to head down to the wrong side of the false summit but Tim pointed me the right way and I regained your tracks in the flat light. We leapfrogged with a group of snowboarders on the way down (while walking) and eventually passed them on the trail which made me feel good about not taking my skis up. Hehehe.

[HHinkkala]

Looks like a lot of fun and good conditions, the North Face Baker report also looked like a good ramble. I'm surprised you found a piton placement in the middle gully. I looked hard for spot up to near midway (in Nov) and only found junk at the time...