Home > Trip Reports > Colchuck Pk apr 28/29

Colchuck Pk apr 28/29

4/15/06
WA Cascades East Slopes Central
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Posted by tomcat on 5/1/06 1:50am
I'm not sure who's idea it was to ski the Dragontail couloir( probably mine) but the skiis proved to be worthless on this trip, even the road was too flat to ski after skinning and hiking skiis 16 miles.  The gate is open and the road is clear to within a mile or so of mtneer cr trailhead.  Light and fast woouldve been a better option for this route. I ahve never hiked this area so I didnt realize the trail was unskiable.  We set up camp at colchuck lake after some tenuous skinning and boot packing for 8 miles. The temp never went below freezing. Needless to say the trudge up the couloir was 3000 ft of knee deep snow.( we left skis at the lake) Views fromt he summit were actually almost worth the slog. Rocks and ice were falling from the faces all day and night especially from dragontail.  The boot out was quicker but the steep section below the lake had sketchy snow and lots of holes to fall into( beware) Creek crossing were melted at least.  Arrived in time to beat the snowstorm by an hour. I wouldnt suggest skiing this route, its just too much added weight for the little bit of skiing.    T
I don't know - I wonder how your ratio worked out compared to the folks who skied Mailbox this weekend.
::)

Thanks for the report and the opinion on the route - I suspect many of the folks who head up that way are particularly fond of the long hard approaches, so it's good to have a little diversity in the reporting on routes like this...
Thanks for the report, I've been waiting to hear the road is open!  I have some questions though.  Is your route the snow slope between Colchuck and Dragontail which (I think) is commonly referred to as Colchuck Glacier? Why was booting up the couloir preferrable to skiing up?  And what about the trail makes it unsuitable for skiing?  I've heard it's a bit of a bobsled track, is that the problem?

Thanks,
Peter
I think the ski down from Colchuck Col to the lake is well worth the effort.  It's a nice sustained 30-ish degree run for ~2000 vf or so.  But the trail is pretty lame on skis, its an icy bobsled run through trees...  I was there last week and decided to keep my skins on for the descent down the trail.

Nice to hear that the gate is open!  But I'm confused, why did you have to hike 8 miles each way if the gate is open?
I enjoy trail skiing out colchuck as I've done it probably a dozen times, but I'm a sadistic, machonistic skier at times. Another good ski, is to go up dragontail via the west face couloir from the top of the Colchuck Glacier. It makes for a nice moderate ski with a fun traverse from the top to the true summit. That makes for a 5k ski descent or more not even counting the tree or trail skiing :).

Even thoug the gate is open the road is snowed in at least a  mile from mtneer crk trailhead. Hats off to anyone who thinks they can ski  anything below colchuck lake. The snow in the trees is pretty lumpy and skinning downhill w tele gear and a 40+ pounds of gear wasnt a option either.  We opted not to ski the glacier so we could save wt and optimize chances at summiting.  The guys we saw skinning up were actually doing ok I had had enough of the skiis by this pt.  IMHO unless you just need to ski that couloir leave the skii at home.  
We spltboarded the Colchuck glacier on Sunday, 4/30.  The upper steep section was nasty wet slide debris, but we still had a good time.  We camped at the lake on Saturday and hung out in the tent during the little storm that blew through in the evening.  There was a solid freeze overnight, so we cramponed/ice axed up to the col around 9:30, had lunch and descended around 1.  Probably should have waited; the nasty debris on the steepish roll over was very firm.  We made some turns here and there, with a little slideslipping through the junk.  Does that make this ski mountaineering?  Things were a little softer down lower, and the turns were fun down to the lake.  Below the lake...hmmm...I think I'd have to agree with the original poster, it seems kinda done for the year, but then again, I'm a snowboarder...The road to the trailhead melted out a bunch while we were there, probably 1/4 mile.







There is a way down from Colchuck Lake to the valley bottom that is pretty good skiing on open chutes in the trees.  Further skier's right than the trail.  Watch out for cliffs though.  Maybe it's already too melted out.
author=GriffO link=topic=4617.msg19681#msg19681 date=1146508252]
I think the ski down from Colchuck Col to the lake is well worth the effort.

I'd fully agree  8) though I can see how the approach could be perceived as a "slog"  ;) I think the vertical ft ski-to-hike ratio was still pretty good [JOM = 2,000' skied / 5,200' hiked up = 38%] when I skied it ~ 5 years ago in late May (we were able to start from the trailhead at that time, but carried skis up to the lake).
Phil- thanks for the tip on the possible alternate descent route below the lake; though I think you're right that it may be melted-out too much by now.
author=Jason_H. link=topic=4617.msg19685#msg19685 date=1146509423]
I'm a machonistic skier


Does that mean you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself at high mach numbers?
Here is a shot of the turns potential from our early April trip.  (Hope they come out in a small format.)  It was light powder for the top half and rapidly warming as you can see by the pinwheel debris for the bottom half.
author=Paul Belitz link=topic=4617.msg19735#msg19735 date=1146600501]
Does that mean you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself at high mach numbers?


I was hoping no one would notice that :)

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colchuck-pk-apr-28-29
tomcat
2006-05-01 08:50:03
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