How do you rope up to ski the north face of Long's?

Hello,

Can anyone tell me how to rope up to ski things like the north face of Long's and in the future, the notch coulier ....

Do you just place a nut or something and tie both ends of the rope to your harness, if you fall you just keep going until the rope gets tight?

Let me know, I see ski tracks on these things all the time ...

Kevin

If you have to ask you probably shouldn't be doing it....$o.o2

That being said: if you have to rope up for it you probably shouldn't be on it either...another $0.02

Both items being said: Go up there, rig something that works and do it.
All this should be a solid nickel's worth of bad advice.

I've heard of people skiing on belay, but it isn't very common, and it really only makes sense for short pitches or roping up for ski cuts.

I'm pretty sure everyone who skis North Face of Longs or Notchtop Couloir just doesn't fall. If you aren't confident about skiing those without falling, I'd just ski something else. Check out skithe14ers.com - I heard that Davenport never roped up for a single ascent or descent on the project (I could be wrong though!)

When people "rope up" for a ski descent they generally do an anchored belay with the least experienced skier descending first and the more experienced skier belaying from above. Then when the rope runs out, you would have the second person anchor and belay the skier from below. This is the reason why you'd want the more experienced skier to go 2nd, a fall by the 2nd could be bad.

With that being said joe q fed up brings up some excellent points. Most (99.9999%) ski descents are not belayed, if you're not capable of no falls skiing you shouldn't be up there. In my opinion the margin of safety and complexity that a rope adds is greatly outweighed by the safety of a controlled speedy descent. It would take a long time to complete a ski descent of even moderate length using belayed skiing technique.

The best technique for skiing anything exposed is simply not falling, heck even if you have to sideslip 1000 feet, just do it.

With that being said, carrying a rope for something like the north face of longs isn't a bad idea though if the crux section isn't holding snow, you'll probably want to rap off of the eye bolts.

Here's a TR.

turns-all-year.com/skiing_s…

Don't worry I am not going to jump on this .. maybe the north face next year, maybe. Mostly curiousity here, nothing like looking down these climbs when you do them and imagine sking them.

Anyways, serious hats off to anyone would would ski the notch down to lambslide. Crap I though I was hardcore being able to lead flatirons .....

Kevin,
Having climbed the Notch Coulior several years ago, I might be able to share some insight with you. Parts of the coulior have alpine ice depending on the time of year, hence the need for technical tools, screws, and rock protection. The angle is consistently 45-50 degrees with small rock bands to surmount and patches of ice to climb(incredible alpine ice). The exposure in the coulior is tremendous. In fact, I felt more exposed in the coulior than on the Diamond face a week later(I climbed the Notch Coulior to get acclimatized).

Let me know if you want to climb it because I'd love to do it again. Perhaps we can configure a way for me to belay you-I sure as hell won't ski it with you, though. The North Face would be good as well.

Shane

Hey Kevin I know of 3 different ppl to ski the cable route on longs last year. well 2 snowboarders and 1 skier to be PC. the boarders sketched their way up in flexing crampons on belay but did not belay on the way down. the skier was solo, and rapped off a sketch ass nut through the crux section.

Interesting question though. I have done some thinking about it lately too. I would figure the way I would feel best is if I was going first being belayed off the anchor that I made, placing pro occasionally but kinda run out. near the end of the rope I would try to place a bunch of pieces and pick a spot out of the way to build an anchor. I would need a partner that was equally capable of getting down with out falling, as well as equally able to down lead and build an anchor efficiently and safely. they could leave the last piece in above the anchor and then lead the next pitch so to speak. and you could continue on down swinging leads. I would figure a hip belay would be the only way you could keep up.

It seems that the no fall style is endorsed more, and also if you cant handle it side slip/self arrest if needed or build an anchor and rap past(waterfall ice, chock stones, big hucks into lower chute section). Some lines seem to have a mandatory rap to get in or out.
some ppl sure are Ski/ Board Gods....... they might be able to tell you more as I sure could not.

There is something about skiing a climbing route, it seems so enticing. I hope to knock off a couple climbing routes as boarding descents this year. North couloir on pacific, the refrigerator couloir on Ice mountain.

From R & I's site:

Sep 1984, p. 3: Harlin, John, "Notch Busters, or Skiing the East Face of Long's Peak"
Jimmy Katz and the author made the first ski descent of the east face of Long's Peak in Colorado in 1984 via the Notch Couloir, Broadway Ledge and Lamb's Slide. The pair belayed most of the exposed 45 to 50-degree descent by tying two ropes together and running them through a fixed anchor so that each skier descended with a top-rope. They made one rappel in the couloir and Harlin traversed Broadway on skis with an ice axe in one hand and a ski pole in the other as Katz crossed on foot. Most interesting are the author's comments on belayed skiing:

"Belaying an 'extreme' descent raises a number of questions. Chris Landry's definition of extreme skiing easily catches the public's imagination: 'If you fall, you die.' By that philosophy, a belay would automatically remove the descent from the extreme category. But, for crying out loud, climbers can do hard and interesting things in the mountains without undue worrying about death. Why not skiers? Why must steep skiing be free-soloing? So, I rationalized to myself, belaying could and ought to be introduced to 'extreme' skiing. Someone else could have the honor of the first 'free-solo' of the descent if they so chose."

Tim, Great comment!

Many "First Extreme Descent's" are rarely in condition to pull off without a belay or rap. Many big name Couloir and face decent's have a rope involved in one way or another, and many will cry foul! Belayed rock climbing sound's like a more normal term than belayed skiing which is crazy. The term used in extreme skiing "You Fall You Die" is no different than rock soloing something near your limit. I defininetly don't see much of a difference with belayed skiing versus belayed rock climbing. Skier's claiming " First Extreme Descent's" should be honest how it was done though.

1. First Free Ski Descent. (Without the aid of a Rope.)

2. First Ski Descent with aid of a rope. (Rap's and Belay's)