2014 Colorado Snow Climbing Thread

Was planning to go up RMNP but I think with the massive weather front it will be garbage. Also was told that their isn't enough snow to skin well, but too much not to post hole on the way to dragon tail. It's been raining up high as well. Sounds like crap all week too

Climbed Dragon's Tail early this morning. Approach was solid. Snow in the couloir was a little wet and sloppy but solid enough to not disintegrate under body weight.

eric kramak wrote:Climbed Dragon's Tail early this morning. Approach was solid. Snow in the couloir was a little wet and sloppy but solid enough to not disintegrate under body weight.

Good to hear!

eric kramak wrote:Climbed Dragon's Tail early this morning. Approach was solid. Snow in the couloir was a little wet and sloppy but solid enough to not disintegrate under body weight.

Awesome Thanks!

RMNP Hallets cirque conditions. Not enough snow to skin in anymore as the trail is too variable. Rain and nighttime temps has caused the snow to be bullet hard first thing, but once the sun hits it becomes very sloppy almost in minutes it seemed. Lots of rockfall from the Hallets side of the cirque. Some individuals were skiing across emerald lake, but I wouldn't recommend it as it's starting to melt out. LOTS of avy activity with at least 4 big slides. Still a big cornice hanging on the right hand branch of DT, and rock bands are formed on both DT and Dead Elk. Runnel coming down the center of the chute. Also a layer of large hail permeates the snowpack just under the surface, with that nasty dust layer you can see in the pictures.

Hallet's Cirque

Dream Chutes

Dragon's Tail

Dragon's Tail 2

DT 3

DT 4

DT 5

Kelso Northeast face on Sunday.. 5in of nice dense powder..

Skiing Kelso 5/25/14

Torreys on Memorial Day was Awesome!!

Tuning forks.. our line in red. Skied great from top to bottom!

Fresh Pow ! Brad skiing the upper tuning fork.

Mexican Hat near A Basin was great yesterday morning.

Cumbre Couloir on Ypsilon in RMNP went on Saturday, but snow was a bit iffy. Nasty snow on Sunday

Ass Scott mentions above there is a layer of hail or "roller balls" on top of the pre-existing snow pack and under the new snow that fell over the weekend. There is about 3" of new snow on top of this unstable layer(which is approx 3"). All of this is on top of the March dust layer which contains poor bonding qualities. These are dangerous wet-slab conditions. Be safe out there.

snow pack-Long's Peak Cirque

Anybody taken a look at lambs slide lately? I know it's more of an approach climb for some, but I've always wanted to ski it. Conditions of bullet snow and black ice have always kept me away.

Any thoughts on conditions, difficulty and if it's worth it?

Also anyone know if the road to the 4th of July trailhead is open yet? Trailridge is open to my knowledge. I'm guessing brainard is not as the road closure status tab doesn't seem to work on USDA site.

4th of July road is open.

Hey Scott,

Flying home from Taiwan yesterday I got a look at Longs from the air.
I did not get a photo as I was in the isle, not a window seat
but will say everything looked like white snow!
The whole way down Lambs, whole way down North Face. Did see some wet slides
off of the Loft area. Even the East slopes of Meeker, which are usually dryad snow!

Hope that helps a little… :D

Scott:

The photo I posted was the snow pack on the Flying Dutchman. I did not venture over to Lambs Slide but I would highly suspect the snow is in similar shape. On Monday the snow pack was soft in the couloir, basically a knee deep step kicking adventure. I was thinking the whole time I wish I had brought my board. The Long's Peak weather cam has been consistently recording 60* temps during the day. Hit the trail early and get of early, and enjoy paradise!

Thanks guys...I was hoping to hear something along the lines of that!!

North Face Couloirs on Pacific Peak need some more time in the oven. The snow is unconsolidated for the most part and large cornices loom overhead on the West ridge. Rock fall is a definite concern as well with many small stones coming down the couloir way too frequently. No sign of ice yet and I'm guessing it will be at least a couple weeks to a month before any shows.

Climbed Mt. Evans via something far, far to lookers right of The Snave. Fairly straight forward: snow up to 40 degrees and three short cruxes of AI2, M2-3ish. Looks like a few other routes in that area are coming in. They should be evident in the picture - any ideas what they're called? Conditions were pretty good on the way up with only occasional patches of unconsolidated snow.

Easy snow/mixed line

Tagged the summit and traversed across Sawtooth to Bierstadt, then reversed the traverse and returned to Summit Lake via Spalding. Its worth noting that the snow on the south side of Sawtooth is horrible. Spent a fair amount of time wallowing balls deep when I couldn't stick to the rock.

Here be choss, post-holing and pain.

Anyone know if Skywalker couloir is in good shape right now?

I saw a post over on 14ers that indicated Skywalker's in fine condition.

MtnLife wrote:Anyone know if Skywalker couloir is in good shape right now?

A buddy climbed it yesterday and said it was in good shape.
Skywalker 30May2014. (Photo by Roger)

J1: thanks for the tip on the Tuning Fork. It's still in great shape, featuring over 3000' of uninterrupted buttery blissful turns on the way down!

Lambslide, Broadway, and Notch all good snow with a booter. No ice yet. Another week of warming might just clear out the Broadway crux move.

Thanks for the updates on Skywalker, still good as of today