April 23, 2012, Kaleetan Peak, WARNING: stability

Had some excitement today, a bit more than I was looking for.  I wanted to see how close I could get to Kaleetan Peak.  If I arrived early enough, and traveled fast enough before the soft snow got too cooked I was hoping for a summit but I arrived too late in the day.

I'll put together a proper trip report with some pictures but I'd like to get some quick info out there for all you Kaleetan fans just in case you're thinking of heading out there.

Two spots to be very careful:

At the col used to cross over the ridge and into the nice skiing directly south of the peak the snow was very sensitive.  This location is at about N47 27.512 W121 28.598, 5515 ft if my GPS is right.  I attained the col, looked at the run and decided to turn around.  I knew from the climb that there are big cliffs below.  I started my decent, a simple move to traverse skiers left to get away from the cliff.  The snow immediately slid (wet slide/sluff).  If I had stopped or lost my balance I would have been carried over the cliffs.

The other spot to watch out for is near Bryant Col at about N47 27.101 W121 27.529, 5105 ft.  This spot also surprised me because it's a small little south facing fairly steep slope.

Hope this helps.  This was my first time on this tour so any corrections or advice is appreciated.

The mountains are getting noisy with still tons of snow and rock and wet slides.  Reminds me of last spring.  Have fun and be careful out there.

Cheers.