December 28, 2011, Quandary Peak CO

Sounds slightly better than skiing in the rain in the PNW - I think.  ;)

I did quandary in April with my first ever BC Trip. Buddy got altitude at 12k, we camped there and just hung out right at tree line, that night it dumped 12 inches of snow with 80+ mph wind. Thank god we dug a huge pit and felt almost no wind the entire night.

When we went back into town, they said houses were shaking.

Wild, windy Colorado!  Quandary is a good one for epics. I think every mountaineer should have one on their resume.

author=Charlie Hagedorn link=topic=22939.msg97652#msg97652 date=1325122100]
Windjacked sastrugified windslab over bottomless hoar

Our family is constantly asking us to move to Colorado to be closer to them. I think this will be our new line of defense. Thanks Charlie!

author=MW88888888 link=topic=22939.msg97705#msg97705 date=1325214344">
Wild, windy Colorado!  Quandary is a good one for epics. I think every mountaineer should have one on their resume.

Amen.

No epic for us this time, though we had to break out all the cold weather accoutrements and gusts approached knockdown strength. Maybe ten people topped out?

Anyone skiing this route in winter may be interested in this. We skied his bowl's northern margin, and it was on my mind.

author=Brownie link=topic=22939.msg97951#msg97951 date=1325620449">
I think this will be our new line of defense.

The sunshine down there might be pretty addictive? Could be worse! :).

Yanna and I got a little ways up the ridge left of the bowl in May '93 before lightning started hitting the ridge across the highway, with the weather clearly moving our way, so we bailed short of our first 'teener. Some locals who were above us were nice enough to show us a quick exit, as the way we'd climbed had us packing the skis for a bit to cross over a knoll on the lower portion. We heard thunder up from where we'd come as we headed into the trees on the other side of that knoll so we were grateful for the tip. It was our second non New England peak attempt (after summitting Northstar just a bit to the south the day before). Someone had just gotten badly hurt in a south facing gully off Quandary before we toured it - I think it drops to a reservoir (hazy memory). Way out of our league at the time.

On Northstar, we were a little slow getting off it and started punching through the melting crust into very deep and now-wet depth hoard on the bottom portion - not fun! That's a very different snowpack they have out there.

That tetongravity report is a good read. Lucky dog, all things considered.