Skywalker Couloir 

Oh yeah, its a little over two miles to the base of the couloir - a fast hike. Took me 45 minutes to where I cut off-trail, plus another 10 of scree hiking up the slope.

This is also quite a good ski descent. Probably best to wait til next year though. We skied it last Sunday, 6/1/2002 and it was very thin in the middle section. Also if you are skiing, it's best to just skip the princess leia finish and boot up below it, or climb to the top and give it a try. The problem is is that it's too narrow, about 5 feet, to sideslip, so you would just have to straightpoint a 50 foot section of 60 degree snow, I'm sure it can be done, but not by me. Ideal starting time for a ski descent is between 11:30 and noon. Enjoy!!

Climbed 6/1/2003. Found the snow conditions to be relatively consolidated, but not well frozen. The Princess Leia finish was full of consolidated snow with steps already kicked into it. Topped out in whiteout conditions and returned by glissading most of the couloir including the lower part of Princess Leia, which was manageable only because the snow was getting so soft.

This climb is in excellent condition as of 6/12/03. There is much more snow now than in the two photos above, the Princess Leia finish is at least 20 feet wide and seemed very steep, over 45 degrees for sure. The top half of this climb has a 5 foot deep water groove running down the middle which we climbed up. This groove would make ski descents problematic, or at least more difficult. The lower 2/3 of this couloir is not that steep but the Princess Leia finish really makes up for this.

Climbed Skywalker this past Saturday 6/21/03. The couloir still has a lot of snow and it was fairly hard early in the morning. I started at 6:15 and topped out around 8:15. It was tough to kick steps before 7:30. The water trough was pretty icy in places. There is a snow bridge at the bottom of the Princess Leia finish that is melting pretty fast. It was solid when I crossed it around 8 am, but I imagine it gets soft by about 10. It was no more than 2.5 feet thick. I could see icicles hanging from the bottom side, so it won't be there for long. Once it goes, the Princess Leia finish will be done for the year. There are still some other good ways to exit the couloir near the top. This climb may still be in for about 3 more weeks. (except for the Princess Leia finish).

Climbed Skywalker on Saturday May 29th. It was in STELLAR condition. Best I've seen it in a couple years. Beautiful styrafoam snow nice and hardpack. Even a couple spots up near the Lea exit of waterfall ice over some rock bands to mix things up a bit. Not sure what the weather this past weekend did to it but I'm sure it's still in great shape. Definitely get up on this one.

Climbed Skywalker on Sat 6-19-04. Princess Leia finish is still good. Overall, the snow is in excellent condition. This route is a real classic!!

That's 6/18 (i.e, Saturday), not 6/16. Same time a [bunch] of others were there. -Joe

We climbed this route today (6/4/2006) and found pretty good conditions; hard snow early on but a bit soft and slushy in spots at 10AM at the top (it was 93 F in Denver and fairly warm there as well). It's a great route in a beautiful location, well worth doing. I was under the impression, however, that the Princess Leia variation was supposed to be near a 70 degree angle at the top, but I seriously doubt it ever was more than 55-60 and that was in a short section. The only way I could see it approaching 70 was if you took a rather contrived 15 foot long line to the extreme left (looking up) of the exit (see the photos of the mini-cornice above). So it didn't seem all that hard or steep to me, but of course worthy of respect nonetheless. Again, well worth doing.

Climbed this Tues, 13 June 2006. Pure, Easy Glory. Left TH at 5:00am. Arrived at base of Couloir at 7:00am. Arrived at Princess Leia section ~9:00am. Topped out ~9:30am. Skywalker had very hard snow; Crampons were required. The Princess Leia finish is still in, but 2 snow bridges are becoming quite thin in this upper section. The snow on Princess Leia was quite soft, making the 60 degree terrain much easier than if it were hard (had we reached it earlier). I would recommend something beyond an ice axe (hybrid ice axe and/or ice tools) if you plan on hitting hard snow/ice up high on this route. The sun hits the upper portion around 8:30am. It took us 8 hrs car to car w/ the SE Ridge descent at a very relaxed pace (took a bunch of pics, 1 hr lunch, a couple breaks, no rush, etc.).

I was up it June 10, 2007. The conditions were great - no moats or bridges and good snow all the way up the Princes Leia finish. The snow at the top was pretty hard - definitely doable with one axe but I was happy to have a second tool along.

I shot this video: www.andyintherockies.com/trip.php?trip_id=63

Had to avoid the heat in Boulder so we climbed Skywalker today, July 4, 2007. We were surprised to find the snow in great shape (styrafoam) all the way up to the Princess Leia finish where we found the snow band to be very narrow (less than 3 feet and rotten. It was so crumbly that we removed our crampons and climbed to the right on the rock for approximately 80 feet until we could regain the couloir higher up. The rock was a bit more difficult than a scramble...felt like 5.4 given we had heavy wet boots on. Actually placed a few pieces of good gear. With the exception of one other gentleman, we had the couloir all to ourselves on this busy holiday. The exit to the left looked good.

Excellent day up the couloir, snow is in pretty good conditions, hard most of the way, and soft in some spots. We did see a good size crack about 6" wide ready to give under good weather, this could be dangerous, it's about twenty feet long, about 3/4 up on the left. otherwise we down climbed to our truck via the east ridge, and glisaded about 800 ft. It was awesome.

Great trip report from a ski descent of Skywalker a few weeks back.
coloradomountainschool.blogspot.com/2009/05/spring-ski-mount>>>
I love the spring skiing around here.

Climbed Skwalker on 6.12.11. Great conditions. Classic climb.

As of June 16th, the exits are all still very much IN. Small runnel halfway up the couloir. Solid snow on the entire approach hike, the road in has some deep puddles in spots.