Quandary east slope avy risk

[bluegrassclimber]

New to the forum and winter climbing. I have been reading up on avalanche terrain, have a newb question about the winter std route on Quandary. In the rout notes it says head up the slope around 11700 to gain the ridge at a point around 12100 to avoid avy terrain. I circled the area in purple in the image (I know the slopes in red are problems).

Couldn't the slope in purple slide? Is the more conservative path to gain the ridge at treeline (between purple and red areas)?

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

I think it would be really unlikely for the purple area to slide, it’s really pretty low angle.

[davebobk47]

That area won't slide. In winter on Quandary when you hit treeline pretty much head straight up. I do tend a bit left as do most others. Unless you are there after a big dump you'll see lots of tracks.

[JacobW]

That entire eastern slope is very low angle and low risk.

Capture.PNG (539.44 KiB) Viewed 4362 times

[bergsteigen]

While a slide on the east ridge of Quandary is not likely, under extreme avalanche danger anything over 27 degrees is completely off limits. That means in the above caltopo map, anything with colors. Yellow is 27-30 degrees. Orange is 30-31. So there is no “completely safe” descent, except on the ridge edge during extreme danger like what we experienced last season.

But typically it is a safe(r) slope.

[SchralpTheGnar]

Caltopo should just be a guide, not definitive, it definitely doesn’t show all potential slopes.

[Jorts]

Caltopo should just be a guide, not definitive, it definitely doesn’t show all potential slopes.

Jumping into that rabbit hole... There was a great talk at CSAW about caltopo and that. The resolution results in plenty of spatial errors. It seemed to have contributed to this accident last year:

https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/ ... &accfm=inv

Having said that, Quandary's east ridge is about as tame as they come.

[Cide]

Caltopo should just be a guide, not definitive, it definitely doesn’t show all potential slopes.

Jumping into that rabbit hole... There was a great talk at CSAW about caltopo and that. The resolution results in plenty of spatial errors. It seemed to have contributed to this accident last year:

https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/ ... &accfm=inv

Having said that, Quandary's east ridge is about as tame as they come.

One of the last pics in the report with the different elevation shadings from two different entities is really eye opening. Thanks for sharing.

[mtree]

I'm completely ignoring the map.
From FIRST hand experience of climbing Quandary's standard east ridge route in varying winter conditions, many times, over many years I can confidently say there is very little danger of avalanche.

That said, there is one small area to be wary of. As you leave the forest and head up the "winter" route to the ridgeline I've seen that slope crack and slough off in the past. I don't think it would kill you, but... I avoided it by circling far to the left and reconnecting with the standard winter route. Just something to watch of for. Otherwise, staying on route should keep you out of harm's way. Have fun!