The Surface Horde: 10/09/12

Mt. Quandary, North Couloir Solo-Climb/Descent

The view from the Summit of Mt. Quandary, looking Northwest

So sorry for the useless hyperbole but...

This post might make some people think that I am slightly off in the head, and I don't completely disagree. All I am going to say about this is that there was no snow anywhere else in Colorado and many other Western States. I wanted to ski a Colorado 14er before graduation, having missed several spring-seasons due to injuries, and there was simply no snow anywhere else last spring.

While it may surprise those unfamiliar with ski mountaineering in Colorado that May and June are most often in the perfect season for skiing 14ers. But after the non-winter of 2012 with a hot spring in March, by May snow was so sparse you could scarcely believe that Colorado was a renowned for famous ski resorts at any time of year. But if you looked hard enough, and were willing to take some risk, you could still accomplish something and maybe also learn something about the eco-crisis that 2012 was for the state of Colorado.

The North Couloir and the Summit of Quandary from the valley approach

The summit of Mt. Quandary in Colorado is 14,265 ft above sea-level. However, the trailheads are all around 11,000 feet. Mt. Quandary is one of the most popular peaks in Colorado both to hike in Summer and ski in Winter. Thousands of people stand a top Mt. Quandary every year, probably dozens maybe over a 100 ski it as well. This is because of its east ridge with its gentle slopes for avy-free skiing and easy hiking.

But while Mt. Quandary is most often a bunny hill by mountain-sports standards, it does have another side. This side consists of classic expert skiing and even some climbing terrain that is much less often explored. Experienced alpinists have fallen to their deaths off these slopes. By this of course I am referring to the Colorado backcountry classic, the Cristo Couloirs on the Southern side of Quandary. This neat and somewhat aesthetic straight-shot to the summit is a classic Colorado 14er climb or ski, which Chris Davenport selected for his Quandary descente when completing his project to ski all 54 Colorado 14ers in less than one year, which he accomplished.

But there would be no snow on Southern slopes like the Cristo Couloirs or the Eastern Ridge in a spring like that of 2012.

However, the Northern side varies again. While the Southern slopes consist of steep, straight shots from near the summit to the valley floor, the Northern slopes of Quandary are as wacky, wild, and convoluted as a Rocky Mountain could be. The mountain bulges out to the North, with long, undulating Couloirs that change pitch and direction almost continuously. Rock walls above them offer technical and exposed summer 14er climbing. The only line that is really ski-able, is the giant one right in the center, dubbed the "Quandary" or 'North' Couloir.

And because it was facing North and also had steep rock walls to shade it, it still had almost 1.5 m of snow in the first week of June.

Nearing the base of the Couloir

Slept in my mountain hardware bivy+tarps next to my CRV

Instead of a traditional trip-report I have organized these photos in such of a way that you can scroll through them to get a feel moving through a long couloir on a Colorado 14er. So starting at the top the first photos that you see are from the summit. Its cool to start at the bottom at scroll up to get a sense of climbing the couloir

The steep slopes shown in the previous pictures were photographed around the highest snowfields in this picture, not visible behind a rock wall. The high snowfield on the right was the steepest and most exposed slope faced that day, and also my climbing/down-climbing route to the summit.