Spring weather has thankfully returned to the high country after a couple of weeks of mostly winter-like snowfall and temperatures.

We are currently experiencing the best snow coverage of the year in the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park with last week's addition of a foot and this last weekend's extra 6 inches of dense white; even the constant continental gale has not been able to move much of this Sierra-cement type precipitation. 

There is still potential slab avalanche danger on the coldest and steeper north and east facing slopes as the warmth has not yet started to reach most of these spots.  South and east facing slopes are sliding as both soft slabs and in big sluffs due to the heat and weak bonds of the new snow to the old snow surface.

Very early starts and avoidance of avalanche paths, especially on south facing slopes in the afternoon would be prudent to stay out of harm's way.  Although the ice last weekend was in prime shape on many south facing cliffs, most of this ephemeral ice is now gone and we were able to observe a few very large icicles falling off this week.  The higher, north facing ice is not yet forming as the rock on these aspects is still relatively cold and so snow melt is not happening to help bring the ice back around.  Perhaps a few more weeks of warm weather and a good cold snap could result in one of the best spring ice seasons in recent memory.  A few big "if's" to that equation. 

Near the bottom of the South Face of Hallet's- the South Buttress behind the skier

North facing routes like Hallet's chimney as an ice route, do not typically come into shape until mid-May or early June, if we get the cold fronts which have eluded us the last few springs.  Lambslide, Kieners, and the Notch Couloir on Longs are very snow filled and in prime winter condition (without the extreme cold). Lots of rock anchoring material (small to medium cams) are recommended to protect a team while climbing on the steep snow in these routes.

The east face of Notchtop (formally known as the north face, but which is closer to a south aspect) looked to be in great shape yesterday with good snow coverage and lots of ice in the steeper crux sections.  There was much loose-snow avalanche debris at the base of the route, and this climb although classic, has some of the higher potential avi danger for an alpine route here in RMNP.  Ideally it should be climbed in very cold weather (night-time) and not after any new snow and not in the sun (7am) or when temperatures are above freezing.

Cornices are starting to drop VERY BIG in the high country as a result of the heavy new snow load exceeding the strength of the most overhanging curls.  Any slopes below these behemoths should be approached cautiously as there are some car size chunks laying around from big cornice failures just this last week.  Some of these releasing monsters in addition to their obvious danger have also been causing some large slab avalanche failures as this kind of falling force is one of the more effective triggers.

Skinning up the South Face of Hallet's

A team of honed clients and myself made a quick ascent to the top of Hallet's Peak (12,700') completely on ski's yesterday and then an incredible descent of the south face into Chaos Canyon which is arguably one of the best ski descents in the state.  Overall with another added climb, we did about 4,000' vertical of descent on ski's on perfect corn snow and some fresh powder in just 5 hours total.  The Notchtop Couloir also looked to be in great shape with only a very small cornice sitting above that steep, classic descent.

The tough choices now are whether to rock climb at Lumpy Ridge, ice or mixed climb on the big faces, or do another incredible ski descent from the high peaks.  I suppose we can just try to do them all and enjoy the ride!

The north facing couloirs of the East Otis Cirque

Comments (0)