Home > Trip Reports > Apr 23, 2018, Mt Constance, NE chute-route

Apr 23, 2018, Mt Constance, NE chute-route

4/23/18
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Posted by hedonaut on 5/7/18 3:20pm
Apologies this is a couple weeks later, an unfortunate work-life imbalance delayed the report. This (that?) time of year seems to be good for E side Olympics.

Dylan and I climbed and skied a ~3000' route on the NE aspect of Mt Constance. It begins up the low gully of the NE ridge route (#6 in my old Olympic Mtns guide), but where that FA party escapes a mid-height basin by veering right, we instead continued straight up a bifurcated chute--we climbed up on the narrower (looker's) left branch, but skied down the wider right branch. Approx line: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychULEghTYXZlZE1hcBiAgIDkssq0Cgw

Difficult climbing conditions, thanks to an insufficiently hard freeze overnight that yielded a hard-to-skin but unsupportable crust for the first couple thousand feet--ski crampons would have been useful. Plenty of wallowing, knee- to hip-deep postholing, and uphill swimming. But at least the views were acceptable.

This shot was taken when we emerged from the lower gully (which we accessed straight up from our campsite). The final chute is the obvious one just right of center; we climbed what you can see, but skied a non-visible branch further looker's right of the blocking buttress, exiting directly below the highest visible point.



A few images from the climb:



[img width=570 height=800">https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NAGkaXxtecRvSF0O4aFoGXnfU5e-uAhC4T2COZr-hR1Np9xXdBlluiNa4Xw2yikVSEfUMwvpQ7SHiHEbKi_MFj4OX2siCleGqlnXZvqUVkwffx8n4RyCiI2SPeGHNiG9cwQYwyVRpMs=w2400" />



Anyway, our progress was slower than hoped, and due to concerns re: the rapidly warming day, we skied from the top of the line instead of continuing to the summit. Ski conditions were the grab-bag of spring variable--some decent settled pow high, some pleasant warmer pow mid chute, then some sticky shmoo and occasional corn here and there in the basin until exiting it into the gully. In the gully conditions were quite challenging, and it is tight, so a combo of side-slipping and jump turns got us through. If we had a window, this route probably would have been in better shape a couple weeks earlier (or maybe even later, with enough melt/freeze).

Good skiing up high:
[img width=570 height=800">https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wCqoApEgp5Vq1vdLzdjECteB-oJ8WSP4S01XrQNJIJ7Vq294gHtSHpkUEwdwwnAiICB96eY5f-Qm90ODPZA9knoCObWrcT31KM4ceOHEKi7NweSdlcSFc414EOQ2P7nQBb6w3fzbqyI=w2400" />

Exit from upper chute:


The line could be completed in better style by a straightforward continuation to the summit via the upper reaches of the
Your really making the rounds back there. Looks grand! I've poked around inner constance and warrior before. Always a cool area to visit.

Nice One! Another one to put on the "must do list"...

Look a like a really fun route. Great ambiance in those buttresses.

What does "bifurcated" mean?

Nice to see that you're still a gamer. Way to get after it.

Ryan, it means "split in two".
Repeated period-doubling bifurcations are one of the standard routes to chaos, fractals, and all that.

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hedonaut
2018-05-07 22:20:05