JamesMtn Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 (edited) Trip: Enchantment Enchainment solo - Colchuck NBC Pandoras Box to Dragontail Date: 5/3/2015 Trip Report: This is my first trip report on here. I have been going into the mountains over the last 5 years, mostly by myself but have never felt that anything I have done was worthy of being posted on here. Over the weekend I climbed the North Buttress Couloir of Colchuck and traversed through Pandoras box over to Dragontail. I have been thinking about this line for alteast 6 months and have been actively training for it for 2 months. I did climb Stuart by the Casacadian route last year in June solo, and I felt I was ready to do take on a more technical challenge in the mountains. The climb ended up being the most epic day of my life in the mountains! Going up the NBC I traversed left instead of heading straight up from the bottom. When I got into the couloir and looked up I saw the first crux of the route, a 65 to maybe a 70 degree 10 foot high mostly ice step. I thought to myself, what in the hell am I getting myself into. Going in true fast and light style with no rope or pro I knew I was committed after I surmuonted the step. Also I have no ice climbing expierence what so ever, but am a competent 5.10 climber. After the ice step it was mostly 45-50 degree snow plodding up to the top. Going onto the Northwest face was a little dicey while traversing up and right. There was a couple of sections that required mixed scrambling. Putting my crampon front points into a crack and camming it just like in rock climbing worked great. Got to the top of Colchuck by 9 am, in 3 hours from my tent. Going up to Pandoras box was simple and straight forward. Once I got to the top and saw the 75 degree snow down climb I realized I needed to go slow and be focused. Plunging both of my straight shaft ice axes into the snow and always having 3 points of contact I felt very secure but it probably took me 20 minutes to downclimb 75 feet. Cruised over to dragontail feeling very happy to have made it through all the difficulties of the route. Casually went up to dragontail and tagged the top and was relieved to have survived such an awesome alpine route. It was an elegant flowing line that I thought was worthy of taking such risks. Overall a very fun day in the mountains! Gear Notes: 15 lb pack, No rope, No pro. Approach Notes: Conditions couldn't have been better. Edited May 17, 2015 by JamesMtn Quote
JamesMtn Posted May 5, 2015 Author Posted May 5, 2015 (edited) Had to change file size to get pictures on here. Edited May 15, 2015 by JamesMtn Quote
aidanhaley Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Can you PM or email some photos of the route. want to gauge conditions! thanks. Aidan Quote
Kyle_Flick Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 I was just up the N. Buttress Couloir last Sunday, and it's in great condition and should remain so for several more weeks. You can bypass the technical down climb from Pandora's Box on Dragontail by crossing on the rock rib to the left. Quote
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