Tuesday, June 9, 2015

"When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier." ~ Roy E. Disney

There is a phrase, the geologic time is now. No matter how easy or difficult the route, how skilled or how new the climber, every day is a window of opportunity for the unexpected. My first climbing season in Colorado, an entire family was buried in a rock slide on a scenic, highly traveled trail with minimal to no difficulty. No one could have predicted the occurrences of that day. Nepal recently witnessed this act of geologic time with their devastating earthquakes.

In the mountains you have two options in regards to risk, avoid or minimize. Sunburn is a risk, but the sun cannot be avoided. One would argue, the only way to truly avoid a risk is to forego adventure all together. Generally not an option, in most cases anyways. Right now one of our biggest risks in the Colorado back country are avalanches. Don't you know my parents' blood pressure just sky rocketed with that last sentence. Why? Well, it's because they know I'll still go out in it. In fact, I went out in it last weekend.

McCullough Gulch - Atlantic Peak - Tenmile Range outside Breckinridge, CO.

The above photo was taken during my final trip for a technical snow course with the CMC. There are many steps to assessing avalanche danger, and they start as early as weeks before your back country trip. Historically speaking, it should be the height of coulior season in Colorado. Couliors are essentially gullies that get packed with snow during the winter. Once the spring freeze/thaw comes along, the couliors become great adventurous alternate routes to summits. There is a considerable amount of skill required in comparison to standard walk-up routes. You need crampons, ice axes, helmets, and most importantly, you need to know how to use them properly.

Unfortunately, the climbing season is a little off kilter at the moment. Late spring snows came in abundance affecting the snowpack statewide. Right now avalanches are being reported on all aspects (face of direction) in all ranges. The weekly temps are warm, and barely drop to freezing during the night. Regardless, I have seen a number of climbers report successful summits on couliors recently. Just because another person got up a coulior last week, doesn't mean I have to though, and it certainly doesn't mean I need to.

My first approach to back country adventures is pretty simple. What path of decision making will most likely get me back to the car at the end of the day. Knowing where my values lie, is what drives me - my family is probably my biggest priority. They may all live states away, but they are rarely far from the front of my mind. Seriously, how can they not be? Look at them!

My niece and nephew, Hannah and Noah.

Trip Report: Search for Atlantis - Atlantic Peak Attempt #1 6/6/15


A few weeks ago, I signed up for a June 6th snow climb to complete my technical snow course with the Colorado Mountain Club. At the time, I expected early June to be prime coulior climbing. Spring, even summer, storms are not unusual for Colorado, but the intensity of storms recently is a bit unusual. It's one thing to get up on a Saturday morning and head for a trail run on a muddy trail, and it's another thing to get up on a very, very early Saturday morning and head out on a soft snow trail to the base of a coulior. 

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center provides detailed snow reports and observations by mountain range through the winter. After Spring rolls around, the specific range reports stop. You can still access the Observations tab. This is where I found that hikers/skiers/back country enthusiasts were reporting evidence of slides in all directions. Avalanches occur when weak layers give way - warming temps can be a catalyst to failure. I followed the weather and snow reports for Quandary Peak from the 14ers.com NOAA link. Temps were barely dropping to freezing, and reports of rain/snow everyday that week. 

With reports of slides on all aspects, and the unusual report of hip deep post holing on Quandary told me snow conditions were not going to be ideal for the Atlantis Coulior. Still I managed to only snooze twice after my 1:30am alarm went off Saturday morning.

The Group: Mike (CMC Instructor), Jeff (CMC Instructor), Dan, Tom, Me

The Route: 6.3 miles roundtrip (McCullough Gulch TH to Atlantic Peak) 3,018' Elevation Gain

The topo map route. There is a way to view topo w/ avy terrain, but let's not do that to my parents.

Route photo without snow. 
We planned to meetup at the ever so popular Dinosaur Lots at 3:00am.The best thing you can do is prepack as much as possible the night before. This allows for 1 to 2 snoozes after the alarm. 

We were happy to see the McCullough Gulch road was melted out, and that we wouldn't be hiking all the way from the Quandary lot. Micky, that's my car, made it a good ways up the road with only a few snowbanks to line up the ruts, and plow across. About a half mile from the TH the snow finally stopped both vehicles. Knowing it would be soft and slushy on the way out, we decided parking on solid ground was the best long term plan.

The group geared up, and hit the road. I was already a little concerned that it wasn't very cold outside, but the snow on the road was pretty solid. We reached the McCullough Gulch TH around 5:10, and added snowshoes at this point. Snowshoes this early on the trail is not ideal when you're thinking about a coulior. 

Mike in the early morning light @ McCullough Gulch TH
Uh oh...the post holing...in snowshoes...in tree line...before the sun fully rises is not a good thing. The trail is completely covered, and travelers need to watch for trail sign posts to stay on the right path. Getting off trail wasn't our biggest concern though - our catch line is the water and Quandary to our left. It's pretty hard to miss either. 

Quandary in the golden light. We could see wet slides in some areas.

Heel locking the snowshoes up a steep section. The minimal layers, and vents open this early in the morning/trail is not a good sign for snow conditions further in the basin. (Photo by Jeff Golden)

Out of treeline we started noticing wet slides on faces to our left and right. The snow was dinner plating around our snowshoes. At this point my outlook on a successful summit attempt was about 85% gone, but it was a nice day. Originally the weather was predicting scattered storms in the morning. The blue skies were a treat, and I really wanted to get above treeline.

At this point the route started across rolling snow fields. Our slopes were mellow, and our route was out of the tow from any avy danger, so we pushed forward. Eventually, Atlantic Peak came into view, and we could see a good amount of avy activity at the base. 85% gone turned into 99% gone pretty fast.

Evidence of wet slides off Quandary (Photo by Jeff Golden)

Hello snowfields. 

Ah, the snowfields...the never ending snowfields.

Atlantic Peak, and the full basin in view. Signs of avalanches in all directions. 

As the route to the Atlantis coulior became visible, we could see wet slides on every face, and what we determined as a slab release on the Y coulior. Wet slides are like grabbing a hot dish out of the microwave. You know it's going to be hot, but it might be manageable - take precautions. Slabs are like boiling water on the stove. You don't touch it - especially if it's recent. Don't touch it.

As we ventured further into the basin I was already 100% on no attempt of the coulior, and not wanting to consider the standard route either, as it went over two roll overs at the top of a bowl. We reached a point where Jeff and Mike, the instructors, say you decide as a team what we're going to do and we'll stop you if we feel like our lives are in danger.

Tom left, Dan right. The final determination was to move forward to the last high point below the base. This was still in a safe zone above run out potential.

The views back in the basin really were amazing. Cloud activity had picked up as we were crossing the rolling snow, but no immediate signs of storm clouds were forming. The temps were mild, and it was a great location to stop for lunch, hydrate, snap some photos, and talk about different avalanche concerns. I was focused on avoiding roll overs, and didn't consider the point release for most of the wet slides coming off the rocks. It was a reminder that even with an AIRE 1 certification, I still need to continually practice/work with my skills.

Some dudes that let a girl come along for the day. L-R: Mike, Dan, Tom, Jeff

Their was no immediate weather concern, but the clouds were building. Looking back at Hoosier Ridge. (Photo by Jeff Golden)
The face. The Y Coulior on the left with the slab lanche. Our route up at Atlantis was smooth, but the snow was in bad condition at this point. Not to mention all avy signs on the face looked pretty recent. All signs point to NO.
Oh man! It really was great to be above treeline. It had been weeks since my last mountain adventure. Summitting isn't always a measure of success, but gaining knowledge is always a win win. If we had reached the based two hours earlier, would we have gone for it? If the conditions were ideal, and there wasn't recent signs of active lanches, sure.

Regardless, it was also clear this route was rarely traveled. Sure, packed trails are nice, but there is a since of wonderment every time you get to make the first steps in a new spot. Five of us stood there looking back over the Hoosier Ridge, and the only other signs off life in that basin were a few fluttering small birds, and screaming ptarmigans. Sometimes that's all you need to feed your sense of adventure.

The snow was mashed potatoes on the way out. I swear the mother nature was trying to eat my snowshoes. Some steps felt like walking through muddy, boggy marshes. Boy was I happy to finally reach a point on the trail out to get them off. I was also happy to shed my pack at the car. It was incredibly too heavy for the day. I haven't unpacked it, but I swear there are rocks in the bottom of it. I have to work on that in the future.

Heel lock in snow shoes turned into a plunge step on the way out. (Photo by Jeff Golden)

Stopped by the falls on the way out. Clouds were starting to build at this point, but we were close to the TH.

Looking back down the McCullough Gulch road. Glad to not be up/on Atlantic dealing with bad snow and now this weather.

Priority value, get back to the car at the end of the day -- Accomplished. Attempt #2 will be for another day.

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