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Peak(s):  Mt. Bross  -  14,178 feet
Date Posted:  04/03/2016
Date Climbed:   06/19/2015
Author:  Tim A
 Dreaming of Couloirs Part 3: Bross without the Choss-S Gully Ascent/Glissade   



After two successful snow climbs in a week, I drove myself to Lake City and then up to to Grizzly Gulch where I built camp and planned on going after Handies, Redcloud and Sunshine two days after Sneffles. A porcupine had other plans that evening, and after several short skirmishes resulting in a tactical draw, I broke camp at 11pm and drove back down the shelf road into LC, hoping the damage he'd inflicted on my car wasn't too serious. I ended up sleeping in my car, exhausted, like a homeless person, on a side-street in LC, and decided the next morning to find an easy and short objective for the following day so as to not exhaust myself before a planned ascent of Castle's NF couloir a few days later with some partners met from this site.

All of this led to a long drive from the wilds of the San Juan to the relatively docile Tenmile, where last summer I successfully completed the Decali by their standard routes in late July before being chased off Bross by a lightning storm at 10am. Having had the incredible misfortune in having had to descend the crap that is Bross without a successful summit to show for it, I swore I wouldn't repeat the mountain by anything other than a stable snow route.

This site lists a few snow routes for Mt. Bross, and I chose the most interesting looking one, the serpentine "S" gully which snakes it's way from east of Kite Lake up the west slopes of Bross and ends just below the summit.

I arrived at the TH at 5am and after carefully crossing a wide stream, worked my way up the drainage leading to the entrance to the gully. I could hear running water underneath the snow, but this early in the morning it was still very solid and I felt comfortable staying on it and avoiding walking on the tundra.
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Alpenglow from Kite Lake.


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Red is the route to the S gully, orange is the standard descent route I took last summer.


Kite Lake had a few tents set up, but I seem to have been the first person moving for any of these peaks on this particular day. It was a beautiful morning and while it was much drier than I anticipated (especially after seeing the San Juans still looking very wintry), I was pleased as I approached the S gully to see it filled with snow.

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Approaching the entrance to the gully.



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From a little closer.



The lower end of the gully is pretty low angle, and I continued my ascent up without stopping to put on crampons or take out my ice axe. There were a few large large steps already pushed in by someone wearing snowshoes when the snow was softer, and I followed these up several hundred feet. The snow was bulletproof and icy, and the weather couldn't have been better.


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Looking back from inside the gully towards Mt. Democrat.


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Looking ahead from low in the gully.


Perhaps halfway up the couloir, the angle of the snow increased enough to warrant stopping and putting on crampons and replacing trekking poles with an axe. I found a boulder conveniently situated and sat on it to switch out this gear, and stashed my snowshoes here as well. This marked the eighth summit attempt in two weeks where I carried snowshoes for most of the approach but didn't end up using them once.

With crampons on, I continued up the steps already in place, but these disappeared shortly after the boulder, and I had some great fun front-pointing up the moderate angled bulletproof snow.

Anyone who's "done" Bross via the standard route will usually try to forget about it as soon as they can. It's chossy, unremarkable, and miserable for either ascent or descent. Yet here I was, enjoying a quality snow route completely alone on one of the busiest 14ers in CO in early summer. To be on Bross and not swearing is a unique phenomenon, and I was grateful the entire day for that lightning storm last summer which meant I'd have to return.



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Looking up as the gully narrows.


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Looking back down.


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Views of the Elks as the couloir nears the top of the slope.



Even on an aesthetic line like the "S" gully, all good things must come to an end on Bross, and the snow eventually ran out and I completed a short walk over to the moonscape of a summit. The views from here aren't great, with Democrat and Lincoln blocking most of the interesting things to see, but there's still a few peaks visible.


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Facing north towards Cameron and Lincoln.


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Close up the still-full Christo Couloir on Quandary.


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Feels like Mars up there.


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Looking back towards the top of the gully, where the snow runs out.


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La Plata and Elbert, with the Box Creek couloirs still looking fat.


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Massive.



Since it was still early (8am), I elected to head over towards Cameron and Lincoln, but shortly along the ridge, the snow became very wet and I was soon sinking down to my ankles with each step. Remembering that this day was supposed to be an easy-going trip in anticipation of doing the long day on Castle in two days, I backtracked towards Bross and made my way back to the gully to glissade down.

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Looking back down the gully.


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Where the snow intersects the SR near the summit plateau.



During my ascent that morning, I had been in the shade the entire time, breaking into sun only near the summit. The snow in the gully remained bulletproof because of this, and after a few practice swings into it, I determined that I would be unable to brake or self-arrest in those conditions. I strapped crampons back on and began walking down.

I should note here that even Bross, which has a reputation as being easy and dull, can do some damage to the uninitiated, especially on a route like this. As the gopro footage shows, the terrain is steep enough for a long slide should one fall, with plenty of rocks and debris to smack into. This trip report details a climb done a little later in the month on this same route and the consequences of an uncontrolled slip. http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=16072&parmpeak=Mt.+Bross&cpgm=tripmain&ski=Includ There are certainly no cliffs to tumble over while doing the "S" gully, but you want to avoid falling all the same.

As I continued my descent, the snow softened in the warming temperatures and while still pretty icy and bumpy, I elected to test it out before removing my crampons and committing to the glissade. After verifying I'd be able to arrest, I very carefully removed crampons from the rocks next to the gully and then glissaded down, pausing to talk to a skier who was starting up near my snowshoe stash. That guy was a boss, he'd already climbed and skied democrat that morning and was looking for his second line of the day.

The glissade wasn't the most fun, with the snow still very icy and lots of rocks poking through the snow which had to be avoided, but it was still a far-cry from the slip-and-slide the normal descent of Bross is in summertime. My knees remained intact after the climb and it only took about twelves minutes to drop back into the basin.

Once back in the basin, I had to compromise LNT principles and hike across some tundra to get out, as the drainage was no longer supportive and a slip through the snow would end with a subterranean water slide back to the parking lot.

Much of the climb and glissade footage can be found here.




Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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