2014 Colorado Snow Climbing Thread

Kevin Nicastro wrote:Did Shooting Star on James Peak on Sunday. Pretty good. There was already a good boot pack, otherwise it would have been pretty rough with how deep and soft the snow was.

Glad we could be of assistance! We went up Shooting Star last Saturday and almost backed off due to the foot of soft snow that was consolidating (the leader sunk in half a foot or so with each step). I dug a pit and did not find a reactive slab, but if it weren't for the clouds, we would not have gone up. This is a really fun climb (sustained steep) all the way to the summit of James, so once the snow consolidates a bit more, I highly recommend it.

Working the snow on Shooting Star.

There's a straightforward walkout at the top, but you know how it is when you don't want the climb to end, so we chose the steeper exit to the right (the only place we roped up):

Fun top out on Shooting Star.

rocky mountain high, here's a photo from above of your leader on the steeper finish.

Climbers in Shooting Star.

Rocky_Mtn_High wrote: We went up Shooting Star last Saturday.

How was the cornice looking over Superstar?

Ted Eliason wrote: How was the cornice looking over Superstar?

The cornice guarding Superstar's exit is definitely something you will have to contend with, as you might expect. Here's how it looked over a week ago -- sorry I didn't get a better close-up photo (I cropped this one from the shot I had of the entire east face), but hopefully it will give you an idea if you zoom in a bit:

Superstar on May '03.

Jason Killgore wrote:rocky mountain high, here's a photo from above of your leader on the steeper finish.

Jason, thanks for posting the photo; that's a really neat perspective. I assume you were one of the skiers hoping to drop into Shooting Star.

The road to Hessie / 4th of July trailheads in Eldora is still closed, but clear. Hopefully they'll open it once the ground dries a bit more.

Scott McMahon wrote:The road to Hessie / 4th of July trailheads in Eldora is still closed, but clear. Hopefully they'll open it once the ground dries a bit more.

A week and a half ago I was unwilling to go too far in my truck (and I'm usually pretty willing) that's a big change from us unable to get within 3-4 miles. Any word on how the last snow affected it?

I only went as far on foot as the Hessie Township as I didn't want to walk all the way to the 4th, but other than two little spots it was totally clear up until the Hessie / 4th fork on Saturday.

Anybody get out in RMNP today )or recently)?
Still hoping to climb Dragonstail with the boys and wondering if it will be too soft and hot tomorrow.

Mark E Dixon wrote:Anybody get out in RMNP today )or recently)? Still hoping to climb Dragonstail with the boys and wondering if it will be too soft and hot tomorrow.

A friend attempted it on Saturday and it slid. Per his description about halfway up it ripped below, and they were getting slammed with rollerballs and pinwheels. He said the slide probably ran about 1000 feet, 50 ft wide and 6 feet deep, so it sounds like it went pretty far down into the basin.

I'm guessing after this last weather system it might take part of the week to settle.

Scott McMahon wrote: A friend attempted it on Saturday and it slid. Per his description about halfway up it ripped below, and they were getting slammed with rollerballs and pinwheels. He said the slide probably ran about 1000 feet, 50 ft wide and 6 feet deep, so it sounds like it went pretty far down into the basin. I'm guessing after this last weather system it might take part of the week to settle.

Thanks Scott, missed your post since we were well on our way down about 10 after climbing Dragon's Tail.

There's a lot of avalanche debris on the route, maybe all from yesterday. It seemed reasonably stable early this morning, even on a sunny day like today.

The kids even kicked most of the steps!

Ted Eliason wrote: How was the cornice looking over Superstar?

The cornice is 5' or 6' tall. It can be bypassed by exiting Superstar to the right and finishing over rock ~70 feet north of the true exit.

Here's a picture I snapped for you this morning while headed up Shooting Start:
Looking up at Superstar Couloir from the top of the apron, below.

Climbed Shooting Star this morning. Started climbing on the apron below the couloir proper at around 8:00 am--two hours, perhaps, later than I should have (to avoid much of Shooting Star's eponymous shooting sluff). Spent most of the time wallowing in the 23" of fresh snow deposited last weekend. The snow (even in the areas not yet sunhit) was loose, and unconsolidated. I could often plunge my free hand into the snow almost up to my elbow. By next weekend, no doubt, it'll be in prime condition again. Today was certainly not the spring snowpack that I expected.

Looking down Shooting Star Couloir.

We had a similar experience on Quandary today, getting off the beaten path a bit and climbing a SW-facing couloir. We got on early and worked through a foot or so of relatively fresh snow that is consolidating now. Seemed as if half the route was climbing on slough debris from the past week (must have gotten pretty warm there recently). Once it firms up, there's some really fun ski terrain back there (see photo); in the meantime, the skiers were having fun on the North couloir and on Cristo.

SW Couloir on Quandary. We named it Horton's Hind Leg in memory of Horton the Quandary Dog

Hi Rocky Mtn High. We dropped in the line to the N of where you topped out and you took our photo.

Snow on the N aspect was great skiing. No stability issues and very fun chalky powder.

Has anyone been up to Ypsilon or other peaks in the mummies in RMNP recently?

Here's a photo of the top of the line we skied and some of the nice snow we got :)

Plenty of the usual slight settling (mostly in the flats down low) and wet sloughs all over the Ophir and Ouray areas this weekend. Not much fresh snow left over from last weekend's storm.

We climbed an inset W-facing line on Yellow Mtn on a nice and icy wet slide track for several hundred feet. Opted not to traverse around Pilot Knob due to a suspect slope and heat. Also did a W facing line up Hayden Mtn South near Imogene but bailed to a flank due to tension cracks and some settling. Still, conditions look pretty good for the skiers if you can avoid the slough paths. Might get to pics of the area tomorrow.

In the Sawatch, snow was much more stable this past weekend vs. previous one - it's amazing what a few days of melt-freeze cycle do to the stability of the snowpack! On Saturday we skied a fun line on the back side of Yale - it probably goes around high 40ties near the top. North facing line, so we still encountered powder, but it was getting heavy. On Sunday, I skied the S/E facing Sawatch line and it was all corn!

the line

slope

tracks

Was in the Black Lake cirque in RMNP on Sunday. By around noon the south facing slopes between McHenry's and Arrowhead were sliding bigtime. Watched slides run off McHenry and Arrowhead as well as on the slope beneath the connecting ridge. All other aspects appeared stable.

Kelso Ridge and the Emperor Face made for a good skimo route the other day. You can drive all the way up to the Grizzly Gulch junction before hitting snow on the roads.

Emperor Face and the upper part of Kelso Ridge.

Hey all, I'm thinking about heading up to the longs/meeker cirque tomorrow. Any information on conditions up at Martha, Dreamweaver, or Flying Dutchman? Anything helps, thanks