Colchuck lake; Dragontail Peak to the left, Colchuck to the right.
Colchuck Glacier.
Solo, Monday, June 3, 2002
Headed up there on a Monday (I’d arranged for the day off for a Sun-Mon Rainier climb, which fell though.) I would have taken the dogs, (at least Maisie) but this trail is off-limits to dogs. The parking lot was empty when I arrived. Left the house by around 4:30 AM, and hit the trail around 7:45, got to the lake in about two hours, where I hung out for a snack. The trail was almost completely snow-free, but is really sloppy the last half mile or so.
Stopped for lunch at the half-melted lake, then circled around to the glacier. It's slightly difficult following the trail, and they have one of those outdoor thrones, a wooden toilet out in the open.
Colchuck glacier was in perfect condition; I could probably have made it up without crampons, but felt more secure having them.
It looked to me like the NE Couloir was maybe still okay, in fact I thought I could see some footprints headed up there, but I didn’t want to try it. I was up for summiting, not exploring, and I was not at all sure of the route once you get out the couloir.
Got to the saddle at 12:45, and was on the summit half an hour later. There was a lot of annoying punching through the snow around the rocks up there (as there was around the west side of the lake) but otherwise no difficulties. The summit book, tragically, was filled about five years ago (the entries go from 1995 to 1997; I thought the mounties were supposed to maintain these things!)
One nice surprise; below the summit, looking over at Stuart, you can see what I first thought was Colchuck Balanced Rock, but I have since learned is Sherpa Peak. I sure wish I understood the geologic forces that stuck that rock up on that hill.
I’d planned to descend to the col and traverse Dragontail as well, descending Aasgard pass, but bagged it, wanting to get home before midnight. Conditions looked good for it, thought; there was a clear set of footsteps heading up the couloir up the back side; beyond that it seems to be a longish scramble.
The descent, of course, is one of the exceptional Cascade glissades. It’s steep enough that I was able to glissade from the col to the lake (nearly half a vertical mile!) except for the flat spot 2/3 of the way down.
Stopped at the lake for a bagel, and fed the local wildlife.
Ran into a couple of guys camped by the lake, planning on doing the Dragontail traverse Tuesday. Hope the weather held for them. One other couple, out for a day hike up to the lake, apparently (no packs) and that was all the people I saw. Another empty crowded climb.
Didn’t take or need snowshoes (except I was wishing I had them up among the rocks at the summit!) Back to the car by 5:30 or so for that long boring drive back down HW 2.