March 12-13, 2005, Hurry Up Peak, south couloir
3/12/05
5905
12
Jason and I headed out from Cascade Pass Saturday morning with the intention of capitalizing on the excellent weather forecast. Our march led us across Cache Col and on to camp at Kool Aid Lake. During our climb from the trailhead and on to the col, the majority of our time was spent on north facing slopes; all of which were covered in a solid crust of ice. An evening recon to Art's Knoll revealed more of what we expected: a very icy looking north side of Spider Mountain. Ambition not easily doused, we skied corn back to camp and cooked our meals. We agreed that we had to get up in the morning and make a go of it, nonetheless. Out of camp by 8am, we cruised back up to the saddle at the knoll and skied to the base of Spider. As we cramponed up the glacier, the snow was only getting firmer and choice was clear. We both knew but didn't want to admit that Spider was turning us away for a second time this year. Looking across the cirque, we found our "Plan B".
The south couloir of Hurry Up appeared to have everything we were looking for: steep pitch, continuous line, and it was south facing so we knew the snow would be softer. Before we could think of a reason not to, we were at the base of the gully. We were instantly impressed at how long and steep this couloir turned out to be. We estimated the bottom 1/3 at about 45 degrees, the middle 1/3 at 50 and the top 1/3 near 55; never more than 20 feet wide on the upper 2/3. The snow took front points and whippets quite well although towards the end we both sort of wished we had our ice axes in our hands rather than still lashed to our packs. At the top of the couloir, we were elated to see that the path was easy to the actual summit, some 15 minutes away. Soaking in the views and the sun, we knew we had to get going if we wanted to make it back to the car before dark. Standing at the top one of the most aesthetically perfect couloirs I've ever seen, the moment of truth was here! I went first. It was good! Here's a shot of Jason half-way down:
http://www.alpineslider.com/Hurry-Up%20098b.jpg
A short traverse and climb back up to the saddle at Art's Knoll, and we were back at camp around 2:30. Packed and time to go, a little cornice hop at Cache Col, an icy traverse back to Cascade Pass and we skied avy debris to within about 100 yards of the trail head. Fajitas courtesy of La Hacienda in Arlington. 8)
The south couloir of Hurry Up appeared to have everything we were looking for: steep pitch, continuous line, and it was south facing so we knew the snow would be softer. Before we could think of a reason not to, we were at the base of the gully. We were instantly impressed at how long and steep this couloir turned out to be. We estimated the bottom 1/3 at about 45 degrees, the middle 1/3 at 50 and the top 1/3 near 55; never more than 20 feet wide on the upper 2/3. The snow took front points and whippets quite well although towards the end we both sort of wished we had our ice axes in our hands rather than still lashed to our packs. At the top of the couloir, we were elated to see that the path was easy to the actual summit, some 15 minutes away. Soaking in the views and the sun, we knew we had to get going if we wanted to make it back to the car before dark. Standing at the top one of the most aesthetically perfect couloirs I've ever seen, the moment of truth was here! I went first. It was good! Here's a shot of Jason half-way down:
http://www.alpineslider.com/Hurry-Up%20098b.jpg
A short traverse and climb back up to the saddle at Art's Knoll, and we were back at camp around 2:30. Packed and time to go, a little cornice hop at Cache Col, an icy traverse back to Cascade Pass and we skied avy debris to within about 100 yards of the trail head. Fajitas courtesy of La Hacienda in Arlington. 8)
Awesome! 8)
Sweet find, Sam.
Way to sniff out the goods in challenging conditions.
Way to sniff out the goods in challenging conditions.
That looks intense.
With apologies to Josh. ;D
With apologies to Josh. ;D
That's funny, when I was in there in January I noticed the melted snow fingers on the left, but I can't say I recall that couloir. Good job guys, it looks nice.
It just goes to show, some people don't have the vision for this stuff. ;)
On another note, let's try to define an objective scale to measure a couloir's aesthetics. I'm only mildly trying to harp on you Sam, because I can be prone to superlatives too. But it would be nice if we could definitively say, 'The couloir was a 9 on the hot slot scale'. I think I'll start another thread.
It just goes to show, some people don't have the vision for this stuff. ;)
On another note, let's try to define an objective scale to measure a couloir's aesthetics. I'm only mildly trying to harp on you Sam, because I can be prone to superlatives too. But it would be nice if we could definitively say, 'The couloir was a 9 on the hot slot scale'. I think I'll start another thread.
I'm glad I could convince you to go on this trip rather than Hood Sam. I'd have to say that Hurry up peak has to be one of the best summits I've been on. I had no intention of climbing this mountain and without the map, hardly knew the name. It was just such a great feeling to top out on the small summit pryamid amidst a sea of glacier and rock. And BTW Sam I have some great shots of you. You'll have to wait though 8) If I get another comment about my sunburn today, I going to >:(
OK I thought about it more and rating couloirs would be stupid. I just want to know more: how big were the sidewalls? How big is that thing? Looks like about 800 feet on topozone? Did you ski all the way down the cirque?
Jason, how good was the ice on either side of Cache Col?
Jason, how good was the ice on either side of Cache Col?
I'd say about a 9 on the "hot slot scale", for sure. It was almost exactly 1,000 vert according to my altimeter, based on where we started climbing up the apron.
BTW: if anyone finds an MSR pot lid in the woods 2,000 feet below Kool Aid lake, email me. ;) It took the big ride. A moment of silence, please... ???
BTW: if anyone finds an MSR pot lid in the woods 2,000 feet below Kool Aid lake, email me. ;) It took the big ride. A moment of silence, please... ???
Nice find Sam & Jason! Looks like a pretty sweet "Plan B" 8)
Nice job guys...
Here's a photo of it from last June . Looks like for a "pure" descent, you'd need to do all 3 portions ;)
Of course, the two benches might deduct more from the hot-slot scale than the extra vertical would add...
And a close-up
Here's a photo of it from last June . Looks like for a "pure" descent, you'd need to do all 3 portions ;)
Of course, the two benches might deduct more from the hot-slot scale than the extra vertical would add...
And a close-up
Excellent!
Nice job guys...
Here's a photo of it from last June . Looks like for a "pure" descent, you'd need to do all 3 portions ;)
Of course, the two benches might deduct more from the hot-slot scale than the extra vertical would add...
And a close-up
Maybe, but I'm pretty certain that there was water running under the 2nd slot...sketchy at best! I'd hate to be in there pounding out a jump turn and then suddenly have the surface collapse...lights out!
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