Front range couloir and snow climbing conditions?
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I am going to be in Colorado next week and am looking to get some snow climbs in, but I was wondering about conditions. I know there has been a ton of snow up there this year. I listed a few routes I was looking at, but I am very open to other routes if anyone has any recommendations. I am probably most interested in Dreamweaver and Martha of the ones I listed. |
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Climbed Dragon's Tooth (climber's left of Dragon's Tail) on Saturday before the storms came through. Snow was a bit soft down low but not terrible. This was not surprising as it stayed above freezing the night before and there was a lot of cloud cover. The crux step had quite a bit of snow and wasn't too bad to get up and over by climbing the steep snow ramp that forms on climber's left. |
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Thanks for the info James. It is really helpful. Definitely let me know if you head up to Dreamweaver. |
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Hoping to get up high and survey the situation next week! |
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I'm taking a stab on Martha's the 20th... |
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Snow was great on Dreamweaver. Three parties (including us) were on it today. |
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IMO Dreamweaver is in the best condition when the snow is styrofoam and there is ice in the upper half |
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Thanks for the pictures and the update! I am hoping to give it a go next Sunday. I will give a conditions update if I do for anyone wanting to climb it. |
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Thanks Scott! |
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ScottC wrote:Martha's was super fun early Sunday morning. Constrictions had lots of ice - AI2-3. Upper constriction required a few [easy] mixed moves at the top out. The Dutchman and Lamb's Slide also looked to be in good condition for a snow climb. Best, Scott Crowl Taos, NMScott, great talking to you on your way up Saturday afternoon. Glad to see you had some great climbing conditions! |
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Cristo Couloir (Quandary) was in great conditions Saturday morning. |
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FYI, it sounds like RMNP is getting dumped on right now, so all these conditions reports may be completely invalid in a day or two. |
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Interesting to hear that you were able to downclimb into the notch on Bancroft. Did you descend the plumb rappel line, or skirt to skier's left or skier's right? |
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For those of you who have been up to Chasm Lake recently, how were the conditions going in? What would you recommend for travel? I'm thinking of doing Dreamweaver next week and looking for a little beta. Thanks! |
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Sarah K wrote:For those of you who have been up to Chasm Lake recently, how were the conditions going in? What would you recommend for travel? I'm thinking of doing Dreamweaver next week and looking for a little beta. Thanks!We took no flotation at all on Saturday 5/16 and had no issues on the way up. Granted it has potentially snowed quite a bit since then... Things were softer on the way down but not anything that made me regret not bringing flotation. |
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To avoid starting a new thread, what would be recommendations to keep an eye on for some snow, ice, mixed that may be in shape at the end of June. |
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I climbed dreamweaver on Sunday and I am guessing it should still be good for weeks to come. Ice is just now starting to form. I will try to post a picture of the route later. There is still a ton of snow up there. |
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Thomas, I can't speak to any of the other routes but early July 2015, Kiener's was in great shape. I hear there's a window of a few weeks, usually around that time of year, where Lambs Slide hasn't yet turned to ice, Broadway is fully melted out, and the 3rd-5th class rock above is almost completely dry. That was the condition I found it in, and it was super fun, though maybe not what you're looking for if you also want ice and mixed climbing. |