BETA PHOTO: The 1,500-foot northeast face of Paiute Peak from ...
Description
This is the central couloir on the big, steep northeast face of Paiute Peak. The face is about 1,500 feet high. Jack Roberts and I started on a snow-free bench on the left side of the face and climbed about 1,200 vertical feet on June 6, 2009. We started late, because of a very long approach, and soft snow allowed us to kick steps unroped up most of the couloir. The couloir appears to end at a large, ominous headwall below the top, but a hidden, six-foot-wide slot snakes up to the left and pops out just a few vertical feet below the summit. We belayed one pitch in this slot for a short step of ice, and then continued simul-climbing to the top.
I haven't found any record of an ascent of this face, but it's a big target and I presume it may have been climbed at some point. Nonetheless, Jack and I feel this great route deserves a name, and we propose the Ghost Dancer Couloir. The climb was excellent, with good snow right to the summit on June 6. By mid-June it would not be nearly as enjoyable.
What makes the Ghost Dancer Couloir difficult is not the climbing but the approach. The only practical way to reach the northeast face of Paiute in snow-climbing season is by climbing from the Mitchell Lake Trailhead over Mt. Audubon and then down to the Coney Lakes basin. This requires bicycling from the winter gate to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, hiking up Mt. Audubon, and then descending at least 1,000 feet, before you start the climb. We descended north from a saddle on Audubon's east ridge at around 12,700 feet, and diagonaled across Audubon's north face for about 1 mile. This was arduous and a bit dangerous. There might be two better options. 1) Continue over Audubon's summit (13,200-plus) to the Audubon-Paiute col (or climb to the col from near Blue Lake), and then descend more directly to the base of the northeast face, mostly on steep snow; crampons and ice axes necessary. 2) Or, from the saddle on the east ridge, descend straight down steep snow to Upper Coney Lake at around 11,000 feet, and then walk up the drainage to the base of Paiute's northeast face. Either way is long: A fit team in good conditions will likely need at least 4 hours for this approach. Start early!
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