Home > Trip Reports > March 20, 2010, Mt Maude, SW Couloir

March 20, 2010, Mt Maude, SW Couloir

3/20/10
WA Cascades West Slopes Central
5947
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Posted by scott_rinck on 3/21/10 3:12pm
A one day mission to a beautiful 9000 ft peak in the Glacier Peak wilderness.  Erik Svege and I met in Redmond at 2:30am departing for a winter attempt on Mt. Maude.  The drive to Lake Wenatchee went smoothly, and we were unloading our approach snowmobile by 4:30.  We snowmobiled toward Trinity, then turned right at around 19 miles on the road leading up the Phelps Creek drainage.  We followed this road for a couple of miles until the Phelps Creek Trailhead.  We left the sled around 6am and proceeded up Phelps Creek on skis.  We started climbing just south of Leroy creek which we finally joined up with in the basin below the West face of Mt Maude. 

The west face had better coverage than we had seen in any of our research, so we took note of a few entertaining descent routes from the summit.  The weather was clear and cool with some light wind.  The snow was variable sun and wind crust with some sheltered pockets of soft snow.  From here we gained the saddle to the south and then turned east up a fin that eventually led to the south ridge of Maude, we had to boot up the last 500 feet to the ridge, kicking through the crust to the sugary snow below.  Tiring to be sure.  The climb to the summit was uneventful with the exception of an increase of high cloud cover and a stout wind from the west.

On the summit we layered up to protect against the wind that had increased to a steady 40mph.  We weighed our options on the summit and headed over to the entrance to the north face, our primary objective.  We looked at the obvious ramp from just below the summit, but were concerned that the size of the pocket, the exposure, and likeliness of buried hoar (which we found 18" deep in a northerly pit down lower) made that route a bad idea.  We also looked closely at entering the North face on the furthest left side and hugging the cliffs all the way down.  This line had some a series of prominent flutes throughout the first 1000 feet or so that were attractive islands of safety.  As we analyzed our options, the high clouds continued to develop and the light became increasingly flat.  As our ability to see the details in a particularly technical descent diminished, we modified our plan.  At this point it was about 1:30 and we made the call to take the more cautious option down a line we had spotted on the west face.

We skied down the center of the upper face until the point where the face breaks into NW and NE aspects.  Knowing that the NE Coulior had been skied in '05 by the Hummels and co., we opted to try something new by skiing to the NW, a line that starts as an open flank and eventually funnels into a dog-legging couloir with an entertaining double fall-line.  The snow varied from wind hammered, to sun crust, to pockets of corn and the odd turn of recycled pow.  At the exit of the couloir we cut across the large face to skirt the cliffs below.

The ski out was an entertaining romp through a candyland of corn pillows all the way down the Leroy Creek drainage.  At Phelps Creek we pushed out on our skin track and were at the snowmobile by around 4:30.  By then the sun had reappeared and we enjoyed the cold beer we had stashed on the way in.  One more long sled ride and we were back to the truck by 6.  All told, an outstanding day in the tall mountains.  We're both still hungry for a winter descent of the north face, but for a plan B, this was a winner. 

Photos by John Scurlock and Erik Svege,

Nice work Scott!  And a fine first post, to boot...

"A candyland of corn pillows" -- I don't know whether to be hungry, sleepy, or nostalgic for childhood games.

Whoo-whee
Nice trip!
Sweet ski line!

Damn, Rinckenberger....that is one sweet descent line! I think I can confidently say that I would not have noticed your "more cautious option down a line we had spotted on the west face."

Great TR and glad to hear that things went so smoothly.

Nice TR. Did you have any whumpfing or test results? Did you just dig one pit or was the hoar widespread? Looking to head out that way this week possibly.
Thanks
Dan

Otter:  No whumphing or evidence of recent slide activity on north facing slopes.  Recent snow had peeled off of E, S, and W slopes due to the sun earlier in the week, but the wind kept the temperatures low on Saturday and everything in the sun was locked down.  Pit on a sheltered NW slope at 7500' ECT23, Q3, No propagation.  We cut a moderately sized cornice on the north face that resulted only in loose surface movement.  On the whole stability was good and only became a concern in the context of the size and exposure of the North face.  Have fun out there.

Awesome.  Hall of Fame stuff, there..

cool line!  that NF would be something else in wintry conditions...

wow ... beautiful line .. great effort!

Dog-legging couloir with an entertaining double fall-line
   8)
Nice..sounds hectic!

Very impressive descent line.  I would of had a very difficult time visualizing the proper line on that face on the way down from above.

More pictures?!? :D

author=scott_rinck link=topic=16089.msg67138#msg67138 date=1269284752]
Otter:  No whumphing or evidence of recent slide activity on north facing slopes.  Recent snow had peeled off of E, S, and W slopes due to the sun earlier in the week, but the wind kept the temperatures low on Saturday and everything in the sun was locked down.  Pit on a sheltered NW slope at 7500' ECT23, Q3, No propagation.  We cut a moderately sized cornice on the north face that resulted only in loose surface movement.  On the whole stability was good and only became a concern in the context of the size and exposure of the North face.  Have fun out there.


Thanks for the info Rick. Hit the NF Wednesday. Saw your line heading off the summit down the SW face, nice turns! Man, you guys had a big day!
Otter

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2010-03-21 22:12:24