8,705 feet
North Buttress Couloir, Grade III, Class3-4 rock 30-50° snow
- Gear Used:
- 2 ice tools
- crampons
May 27-28, 200
8,705 feet
The Approach
It's about a 2 in a half hour drive from Seattle to Leavenworth. Once you get into town drive south on Icicle Creek Road for 9.2 miles to Bridge Creek Campground. Drive across the bridge on Mountaineer Creek Road for another 3.5 miles to the Stuart Lake Trailhead (3400 feet).
The weather forecast has been misleading us all for weeks now! Apparently rain now means sunshine! Travis and I decided not to worry about the onslaught of north west spring weather and head into the hills. We picked Colchuck Peak thinking that we would have the best chance for good weather as it lies east of the crest. We pulled into the trailhead parking lot with 70° weather and lots of sun! We quickly packed a light alpine rack, 30 meter rope and crampons and headed into the hills.
This was the first backcountry climb for both of us this year and I was anticipating a long exhausting hike in. The familiar trail ended up going pretty quickly and I was surprised with how fit both of us were. The trail stayed snow free the whole to the lake. I would imagine that in another week or so and the lake will be melted out as well!
Travis crossing the bridge.
We took a 15 minute break at the second bridge where you can scramble onto large boulders and catch a glimpse of Mt. Stuart. It's a great spot to hydrate and have a snack.
It took us 2 hours to reach the lake.
2 hours from the car we made it to Colchuck Lake. We took another long break at our favorite spot to snap some photos and enjoy the fresh air. We still had a long ways to go as we were planning on hiking around the lake and then climbing up the Colchuck Glacier Moraine to establish our camp for the night.
There is still a bit of snow at Colchuck Lake.
Travis hiking the last 1000 feet to high camp on the Colchuck Glacier Moraine.
SIlhouette on Dragontail Peak.
I have hiked to Colchuck Lake so many times and I never get tired of it. It is a spectacular place and so easy to get to. We only ran into two other groups the whole day; one group camping at the lake and another that were on there way back down to the car. It's amazing that we had the whole place to ourselves!
The Climb
Our plan was to climb the North Buttress Couloir and if weather prevented us from doing so we could just run up the Colchuck Glacier. While at our camp we could look directly up the first half of the couloir and about a quarter of the way up it we could see the crux of our route. It looks like an avalanche has cleared all the snow off of a constricting section of the couloir. It was bare rock for about 15-20 feet! It looked hard from below. We figured we could at least climb to it to see if we can get past it.
Weather was coming in pretty quickly as we were preparing for our climb. I was defiantly freaking myself out about the climb thinking we are going to end up in a steep couloir in the middle of a blizzard! We racked up and started kicking steps up the couloir, rope left in the backpack just in case.
Danny climbing to the first constriction in the couloiur.
The couloir went pretty easily until we reached the small cliff band. We traversed a bit to the right until we found what looked like would be pretty easy. 4th class rock in crampons is pretty exciting! I had the feeling that my crampon would slide off the rock and I would go tumbling down the couloir. It ended up being pretty easy and even a little fun.
Travis climbing some 4th class rock.
High above the cliff band.
After the cliff band we defiantly felt like we have gone to high to turn around easily. The snow was basically wet and heavy the whole way up the couloir and we only occasionally felt the need for crampons. At times we would sink in past our knees in the sloppy mess of snow. This became exhausting as we would have to work that much harder to gain any ground.
Travis nearing the notch at about 8,000 feet.
Danny climbing into the sky.
OK, were at the notch. Now what?
Travis climbing onto the north face.
After reaching the col at about 8,000 feet I was hoping the snow would become more firm. We traversed right on some rock and ledges until the whole north face opened up for us. If we could stay on the snow we could make it to the summit in about an hour I thought. I ventured out into the snow and quickly figured out that this was going to be a long and challenging day. We were now sinking to the waist in mushy soaking wet sluff. At times we would basically build a vertical step in front of us because at every attempt to advance we would just slide back down.
You never told me that we would be drowning in waste deep snow!
Danny searching for the best way up.
We decided to stay on rock as much as possible. This ended up working really well as we never encountered rock that was harder than 4th class.
Travis finding purchase on decent rock.
Travis reaching the north ridge with the summit above!
It took us 3 hours and 6 minutes to reach the summit from our camp. I felt we did pretty good considering the horrible snow conditions. We spent about a half hour on the summit before encountering even worse snow on the descent down to Colchuck Glacier.
Danny enjoying the fact that he can't get any higher!
Travis descending the glacier route back to camp.
Once we reached the glacier we just sat down and did a fast glissade back to camp.
Home Sweet Home!
This ended up being an amazing two day trip! We had great weather, climbed a great route and enjoyed great company!
- Car-Camp: 3,100 vertical feet - 3:38
- Camp-Summit: 2,400 vertical feet - 3:06
- Summit-Camp: 2,400 vertical feet - 0:45
- Camp-Car: 3,100 vertical feet - 2:23
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