North Buttress Couloir in Spring conditions, from the top of the moraine.
The months of March, April, and May saw much-cooler than normal temperatures in the mountains, and a stable and predictable weather pattern that is quite abnormal for this time of year. The perfect conditions formed an unusual amount of alpine ice in the Stuart Range this Spring, and the popular Triple Couloirs route came into perfect shape for several months. The word was out, and during any given week the route would see many ascents. During this time the weather was cold and cloudy, but with very little significant precipitation, making the avalanche conditions and climbing conditions ideal.
Colchuck Lake, and the Triple Couloirs route in particular, became somewhat of a mob scene on weekends. While the route in such good shape was hard to pass up, I had already climbed it in much more challenging conditions and wanted to do something I had not done before. I had also climbed the Northesast Buttress Couloir in challenging conditions, which was a fun and interesting climb, so was willing to head back for another winter route of the same flavor. So on April 19th, Summer and I got up at 3am and started hiking into Colchuck Lake, intending to do the North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck, as a nice introductory alpine route for Summer and a nice way to do something new and low-stress for me. The weather was once again perfect, the day wonderful. At the trailhead we ran into none other but the industrious Gene Pires and friends, who were going in to do a one-day ascent of the same route. Gene is a somewhat regular climbing partner and it was fun bumping into him!
Halfway to the lake Summer sat down. Motivational problems. "I just want to climb some granite..", she said. It was OK, I can understand the lack of motivation - you want to support a partners goals, and they want to support yours, but sometimes they are just not into it. Forcing the agenda just makes the trip much less enjoyable for both. So it was with no regrets that we turned around and headed back to the car. The next day Summer and I climbed at Index, and Summer pinkpointed Godzilla, which is a good start to the season.
When a picture of Gene and his party appeared on the Internet from that day, however, I was determined to go back, and made plans for the next weekend. Tim Lawrence expressed interest, saying he had gone in several times to the lake and really wanted the route. So we planned a one-day try on Sunday, the following week.
That fateful day arrived, and there had already been a significant snowmelt in the lower Mountaineeers Creek valley. Trail conditions were good and we blazed to Colchuck Lake in an extremely fast 1 hour and 45 minutes. Here we encountered some campers and climbers, with parties heading up the Colchuck Normal Route, Triple Couloirs, and Northeast Buttress Couloir on Colchuck. There was indeed a carnival-like atmosphere here, which reminded me alot of Mt. Hood, and I longed to get through these people quickly and get some solitude.
Don't let anyone ever tell you the approach to Colchuck in winter is easy. It is, for the most part, but slogging up the moraine above Colchuck Lake is a pure grind, any time of year. Winter is no exception, and the long post-holing stairmaster to the top of the moraine took a bit out of Tim and me. Tim was lagging now, running low on energy. His metabolism is really differnt, he's like a little shrew that needs to eat constantly to keep the fires burning. Me, on the other hand, I have so much body fat and blubber I can go all day without eating, with a sustained energy level. So I pushed on ahead while Tim refueled.
North Buttress Couloir in Spring conditions, from the top of the moraine.
At the base of the route now, Tim was having second thoughts. An extremely strong rock climber, Tim is still a snow and ice novice and was intimidated by the less-than-ideal snow conditions. He'd been avalanched on Big Four, and was still getting over that mentally. The sun was already hitting the top of the couloir, and it was time to boogy. So Tim decided to forego the route and head up the Normal route, and I would continue on alone. Thats OK, I was confident in my speed and the route looked fun and easy, no steeper than many of the other casual snow and ice climbs I've done.
While Tim traversed over to Colchuck glacier, I barrelled up the couloir, racing the sun. Even with the sun beating down on me in the upper couloir and me sweating hard, I didnt stop to shed layers. I wanted to limit my exposure in the main couloir now that the sun was on it. I cramponed up about a third of the way up the route, and kept going. There was no icefall or rockfall while I was on route, and soon I topped out at the small col that leads onto the Northwest face.
I was alone in my own little world. There was no one else on the route, no one ahead of me. The carnival was far below me, and I was now oblivious to them all. The climbing beckoned. At the col I took a brief rest, but the route was interesting looking and I was eager to continue. It was extremely cold in the shade at the col, exposed to the wind for the first time; at this altitude there was little doubt the mountains were still in full winter conditions. The Northwest face is completely in the shade, and while the exposure is dramatic and a fall would lead to death (no self arrest possible here), the climbing was straightforward and easy. In lesser snow conditions it might become a bit more scary, but today it was a fine day to solo a nice mountain route.
I followed the steps kicked up the slope to the final 3rd class top-out through a small rock band and summitted at almost exactly 9am, alone with no one in view. I was pleased with my speed and style, but just damn happy to have the summit all to myself. The day was still perfect. Stuart was looking badass (panorama) (I later learned that Colin and Forest were climbing the Direct NW Face of Stuart at about the time I summitted). I waited for Tim for a little while, but it was freezing cold and I had very little with me to keep me warm while not moving. So I headed down and was soon greeted by throngs of people coming up, including Tim. A little above the col, we met, he gave me a jacket to wear and I dozed off while he went to the summit and returned. The trip down the glacier was uneventful, and we motored back out across the lake and back to the car.
