BETA PHOTO: North face of Pikes Peak, taken from HWY 24 just w...
Description
Y Couloir is an aesthetic snow climb on the steep north face of Pikes Peak. It affords over 2000' of vertical gain, and deposits the climber smack on the summit.
To access, get into the Bottomless Pit. This can be accomplished from either the Barr Trail (~10m easy hike), from the Crags campground trailhead (~6m harder hike), or have a good friend drop you off on the toll road (~1m harder hike and $10 toll, plus no easy way down). Bivy in the Bottomless Pit.
The line is obvious to the south. Head south and begin climbing up the obvious gully. The Y couloir branches to the west (climbers right) off of the main line, about 1/3 mile up. Climb into it as the angle increases. You soon come to two branches that give this line it's name. The left arm of the Y immediately climbs a rock step that can vary from moderate 4th class to technical 5th class, depending on snow depth. The right arm moves over an ice bulge, which can generally be bypassed on the left. After surpassing either difficulty, continue up your chosen arm to the summit.
In February, we started climbing at 4:00am, and topped out at 7:30, just as the top of the couloir was getting sunhit.Check out Dawson's Guide to northern 14ers for a more succinct description.
The Crags approach is by far my favorite way to get to this classic climb.
Protection
Ice axe & crampons. Pickets if you're not comfortable on steep snow.
If you park or are dropped off at the top of Rumdoodle Ridge, it is about an hour of class 3 downclimbing to the base of the route. If you drop off the ridge too soon, you get into some class 4 stuff but it saves loosing as much elevation. It took me a very casual 5 hours car to car parked at Rumdoodle.
Did this at the end of June '06. I agree with the previous post as for dropping in from the ridge. We bivied in the grass/gravel in the trees before climbing out the next day. It's a spectacular place to spend the night right above town. With our spare time the first day we did a bit of cragging on the wall on the south side of the "cirque". There is quite a bit of alpine 5.fun to be had up there with an out there feeling to it. On the "Y", itself we really took our time and spent a lot of time scrambling amongst the rocks taking whatever line left or right looked fun. A great route for aspirant alpinists like myself so long as your aware of the difficulties of extraction should you have and issue. Give it a go in the summer with a light rack and a spirit of adventure.
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