4/15/2025 Route: East Ridge to Quandary Couloir Posted On: 4/15/2025, By: ericahlstedt Info: Continuous snow besides one short rock band up high from parking to summit and down the North Couloir. Quite windy up high so conditions never really softened up. Couloir was quite firm and chalky. Ski crampons useful on the final uphill to the summit. Mccollough gulch road was nice corn around noon. |
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4/14/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: HubbleSR Info: Conditions were more or less awesome. Completely packed snow all the way to the top using only microspikes - Large gusts of wind towards the top and minimal cloud cover. Really bad post holing right above the tree line after it got warmer. |
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4/12/2025 Route: South Gully aka Cristo Couloir Posted On: 4/12/2025, By: jeffh7 Info: Started around 5:15am and was 2hr45m car to summit up the east ridge. Hard pack in the morning which made skinning quick. We booted the last portion of the ridge adjacent to the upper bowl because skinning was tedious. Waited an hour at the summit and dropped into Cristo Couloir at 9am. Was able to ski from the summit pretty easily. Was still pretty hard pack and crusty, but I’d imagine if we had waited another hour or two it would be nice corn. There was a lot of wind and the clouds covered the sun for the first hour of the morning so it seemed to be warming slowly compared to a similar aspect and elevation in the Elk Range that we skied the day prior that was perfect corn by 9am. Had afternoon plans so we had to go down. Was able to ski down most of the road but had to take our skis off and walk nearby the dam. Fun day regardless, lots of people out there and the parking lot was full when we got back to the car at 10am. |
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4/10/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 4/10/2025, By: notidealbutfine Info: Didn't use skins or traction all day. Not too icy as well. Nice boot pack trail to the summit. There is enough continuous snow to ski from the summit back down to the parking lot if you exit the upper bowl onto the East ridge. Beautiful bluebird day! |
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4/7/2025 Route: North Gully aka Quandary Couloir Posted On: 4/7/2025, By: chrisharkness Info: Skied up East Ridge, down the couloir. Follow a GPS track for the proper entry point. There are a lot of ski tracks that go further down which leads to a fairly gnarly looking descent looking at it from below. Perfect conditions today as well. Windless. Very stable snow, but definitely some no-fall zones. A bit of a trudge to get back to the East ridge trailhead once at the bottom of the gully, but not too bad. |
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4/6/2025 Route: North Gully aka Quandary Couloir Posted On: 4/6/2025, By: MountainManta1 Info: We were one of 3 or 4 parties whom skied the north couloir today. On the ascent, we skinned up the east ridge to the summit. Ski crampons were helpful for the top few hundred feet (though it was passable without them and most weren't using, I was happy to have mine). The north couloir had a bit of wind slab to navigate. Beyond that, it was basically winter conditions but without much p-slab concern. Entry is a little boney on an initial traverse/cut in. Some crust is present in places below, but overall, it was pretty great. The east bowl and ridge had a ton of traffic as usual and well filled in/in nice form for skiing today. |
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3/23/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 3/23/2025, By: jeffh7 Info: Skiing on Quandary was phenomenal today, we had powder nearly top to bottom. Started at 8:25, summit at 11:35. Was able to skin all the way to the summit and ski the same way back down keeping our skis on the entire time. It was super windy today and a lot of snow transport. Very obvious trench to treeline. After that, any resemblance of tracks became windblown on our ascent. We set a skin track up the ridge adjacent to the upper bowl and another group set a bootpack. Saw lots of other hikers / skiers on our way down so I'd imagine there will be a pretty established trail by the end of the day if the wind doesn't sweep it over. Stayed out of the bowls. Cristo couloir looked pretty filled in. Both of those descent options seemed pretty wind loaded. |
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3/8/2025 Route: South Gully aka Cristo Couloir Posted On: 3/8/2025, By: isaacbauman Info: We started from Blue Lake road closure at 7am and summited at 1pm. The approach to the base of Cristo was doable with skins or snowshoes, flotation needed for sure. The couloir itself was not the right conditions to ski or boot up directly, due to the wind slab. We dodged this issue by skirting to the sides and sticking to the stable rocks. Crampons absolutely required. Honestly, would not recommend. Returned to parking lot just after 3pm, took the standard east ridge down. |
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3/2/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 3/3/2025, By: Tlorbets Info: Weather was ridiculously perfect. I was surprised there were only around 7 cars in lot at 6am because it's critical to get an early start if you wish not to post hole on the way down due to the rapid warm up. Started at 6:30am returned at 11:30am. I only wore micro spikes and the trail was hard packed all the of the way up. I was surprised I did not post hole once on the way down, sun was hot and started melting. Winds were minimal to none except for the usual section on ridge. Lots of skiers enjoying the day on Quandary. Conditions will change after Tuesdays storm coming through. |
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3/1/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 3/1/2025, By: butlerer Info: Absolutely beautiful day. 44° at the car at 1:40 pm when we got back; 19° at 7:45 am when we left. Trail is packed from the TH to the summit, and my dog made it just fine--with the help of a winter jacket bc he's a pit and is cold most of the winter. Brought snowshoes but didn't need them, but definitely needed spikes, and poles were helpful. |
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2/23/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 2/24/2025, By: abhinav7241 Info: Conditions were great.. i dint use my snowshoes even though i took it with me. The snow was well packed all the way up till the tree line. From the tree line up till the flat part there patches of deep snow but you can maneuver your way.. Very windy at times other than that great hike great views.. |
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2/23/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 2/24/2025, By: abhinav7241 Info: Conditions were great.. i dint use my snowshoes even though i took it with me. The snow was well packed all the way up till the tree line. From the tree line up till the flat part there patches of deep snow but you can maneuver your way.. Very windy at times other than that great hike great views.. |
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2/22/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 2/22/2025, By: ajtrezco Info: Skied Quandary today, conditions were great. Floatation is pretty much mandatory, especially below/near treeline when things warm up. The last big storm really filled in the east bowl, though still a bit sharky; definitely cautious skiing in that upper bit if you care about your skis. Nonetheless, was able to ski all the way from the summit to the car without taking them off. |
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2/18/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 2/18/2025, By: algryno Info: Blustery summit. Remnants of trench from TH until open-ish slope at 11.8k. 4-8" trailbreaking until there. Kept snowshoes on the entire time. There were a few short sections of windboard/windscoured, but most of the route still had a good 6"+ fresh snow. Thanks to the skier who helped break trail for a bit! On the way down, my tracks were already filled with wind-transported snow. |
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2/14/2025 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 2/14/2025, By: Will_E Info: Cold, windy and blustery day. There were 4 or 5 cars in the parking lot when I arrived, so I gambled and left my snowshoes in the car. There were a handful of areas the trench disappeared and I post holed pretty bad, I pushed through, not the worst postholing I've suffered through. Above treeline no traction needed today. |