High Altitude Adventures

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!