February 21-22, 2010, - Dragontail

In an ongoing attempt to milk the high pressure Pete and I decided to take Monday off, in addition to last Friday, to tag Dragontail which neither of us had ever climbed.  A previous commitment on Saturday prevented us from making a four day trip out of the weekend, but we were perfectly satisfied with Friday's trip up Red Mtn and then the two days we spent up at Colchuck Lake Sunday/Monday.  The skin up the road to the TH went by quickly - the skin up to the lake a little less so, but we were glad to have a track the whole way.  We ran into a couple of guys on their way out who sang the praises of the snow on the moraine below Colchuck glacier so we were motivated to get to the lake in enough time to take a pre-dinner lap.  The guys did not lie - the snow on the moraine was great and in the fading light we whooped our way back down to the lake and slid in to camp just before dark.

Today we left camp around 7:30 and started the grind up towards Aasgard Pass.  We followed a skin track until about 6500ft, but the firm wind slab was getting too slippy so we racked the skis and booted the rest of the way to the top of the pass.  We were unsure what the snow on the Snow Creek glacier would be like given that it gets morning sun, but we were very pleasantly surprised to see two sets of recent, great-looking tracks coming down it so we knew it would be good! There was a nice skin track already laid up the Snow Creek glacier and the south side all the way to the summit (thank you whoever put that in!) so we were able to make short work of the final leg.  We topped out around 11:30 and soaked in the views.  Started down around noon and were, again, pleasantly surprised that the snow on the south face of Dragontail wasn't too crusty or overcooked.  We turned the corner and headed down the Snow Creek glacier to have our suspicions confirmed.  The snow was ever so slightly wind-effected, but the turns were fun and fast.  Sadly, the windslab we had booted up to get to the top of Aasgard pass had not magically truned into blower powder, but at least it was supportive so we carefully picked our way down to about 6200 where the angle eased off and the snow DID magically turn in to powder!  Got about 700 feet of great snow back down to the lake. 

The ski out was nothing anyone really wants to hear about - expletives were muttered, control was barely maintained, a pole may have been thrown in frustration :), but ultimately we made it back to the trailhead injury free and just that much more excited for the burgers that were waiting for us at Heidelburger.  A fast run down the road had us back at the car at 5:00 on the dot.

Photo 1:  Potato chip sized hoar crystals!!
Photo 2: Skinning to camp Sunday evening.
Photo 3:  Skinning up the Snow Creek glacier.