Posts tagged RMNP
Posts tagged RMNP
Dragon Tail Couloir
I got invited to go climb the Dragon Tail Couloir this past weekend with a group of 3 other people. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the best couloirs in Rocky Mountain National Park and an opportunity to check out the conditions for skiing and snowboarding.
With the variable conditions in the higher altitudes in RMNP we decided that we should make it an early morning push and get as far up the couloir as we could before the sun hit it and started to warm things up.
We left the Bear lake trailhead at 6:00am and made really good time getting up to Emerald Lake. As the sun was just peaking up on the east side of the lake at about 6:30 we had our crampons on and ice axes in hand as we started our 1800’ ascent.
The snow in the lower section was somewhat soft and you could see the left overs of a few sluff slides or possibly some really small wet slides but the debris was not very deep and did not leed to any concern.
As we made our way up the into the couloir onto the 45 degree slope we hung to the south side were the snow was packed firm and you could get a really good perch the whole way up. Also in the gut of the couloir the snow looked really good and as the snow hit it, it was perfect spring snow for skiing.
We went up the left side where the dragon tail splits into two different chutes because the cornice on the top of the right side was looking very large and unstable. At the 55 degree narrow section the snow was softening up a little bit but still giving great holds for both feet ad axes. Where the normal 5.3 rock section is we actually ended up just being able to walk onto the rock, which was covered with about 2” of really soft snow. This made travel a little interesting but certainly easier than having to climb it. From here it was just an easy walk up out of the top where you meet the Flat Top Mountain trail.
The descent back down Flat Top Mountain was packed nicely and we had no trouble getting down quickly without the snowshoes that we decided to leave in the car. We reached the Bear Lake parking lot around 10:00am just as the normal Sunday morning crowds that are so prominent to the area were showing up.
The conditions in the Dragon Tail were so good that I think I will have to go back in the next few days and drop in from the top snowboard. So keep your eyes open for my posting on snowboarding this great 55* couloir.
Cheers!
Mount Alice Approach RMNP
Last weekend a friend and I headed out to check out Mount Alice and the surrounding areas for possibilities of backcountry skiing and snowboarding. This is a 13000-foot peak near Thunder Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park accessed from the Wild Basin trailhead. We had heard that that there is a couloir from the top of Mount Alice possible called the S-Chute that should be able to get our blood pumping. (picture 1)
Unfortunately due to my busy school schedules my backcountry and mountaineering schedule has been limited the past few weeks and this was going to have to be a fast push as my friend needed to be in Denver Saturday night. We left the winter trailhead Friday night around 5pm hoping to get in pretty far in the limited light that we had left since Thunder Lake was over 9 miles from this point.
The trail was already fairly packed most of the way so we were able to move fairly fast even with our camping and ski gear on our backs. As the sun set we were feeling pretty good and pushed on until around 8pm. When we finally stopped at the North Saint Vrain campsites to set up camp. This was about 5 miles in and around 9500 feet and since we were fairly tired we thought it would be a good place to set up camp and call it a night.
The next morning with the warm sun and clear sky we were feeling lazy and didn’t leave camp until around 11. This proved to be a poor choice as the trail from the point of the camp on was completely unbroken and took a bit of time for trail finding as it wound its way up through the woods.
We still made good time and covered about 2.5 miles by 1 in the afternoon where we accessed the ridge that would take us out of tree line and to thunder lake and Mount Alice. Unfortunately for us as we came to the point where we should have been able to see Mount Alice and Thunder lake we ran into the start of the weather and could not even see the outline of Mont Alice.
Due to weather and the fact that we would have to be doing some 4th class climbing once we reached the peak we decided that we should call it a day and started back towards the car enjoying some nice powder in the trees. But overall I think we had a good exploratory adventure and found some possibilities of really good backcountry areas for another time. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of this to share but the ridge accessed just North-East of Bluebird Lake as well as some chutes off of Tanima peak should offer really good lines and even great tree skiing.
Sorry for the lack of descriptive pictures on this post I will do my best on future adventures to have content that can help you get a better idea of the route and trip details.
Cheers!
