For the past few years, March has been The Golden Ticket to follow your dreams up white-washed chutes and stacked rollerballs. With an early start of course. The present March was no exception, or I guess followed the trend of being an exception which is becoming the norm.
Sneffles, Gilpin and Friends (Jomah)
Let's start out with an obscure musical reference just to show Danny I have in fact listened to a music.
The potential for a novel winter route on a high peak has its draws, or at least enough to justify 12 hours of driving. Even the hardest of the high peaks have been outlined and guidelined, somewhat pre-packaged into convenient mountaineering kits with numerous trip reports. The term Copy and Paste Mountaineer has been bandied around with mixed opinions, mostly negative. Elitism, maybe? Hyperbole, certainly. There are still lines out there still in need of a winter try. But more importantly, are skis or snowshoes better suited?*
*Rhetorical. We all know snowshoes are more versatile for technical mountaineering.
A right proper page on Mountainproject suggested a cool way to do Dallas. The South Couloir, listed as 5.7/AI3-3+. Properly inset, south-facing, and reputedly good rock. What's good in early summer is good enough in Golden March. Partners were game to give it a go, salivating at the e-mention of ice.
The inset South Couloir hits right of the summit. Standard route follows the snow slopes around to the east face (Kylie)
We move along by 3:45 with dim lighting from a three-quarter moon. Skis vs. snowshoes are a point of contention and we keep track of which fares better on this incredibly remote peak miles from Oprah's summer mansion. The standard approach to Dallas follows the Deep Creek Trail from the water treatment plant parking and on up the Skyline trail, four miles to the base. Off and on tracks, some breaking. Point for skis as Jomah cruises ahead. Said trail crosses a number of avalanche bowls prior to descending. An inconvenient truth if I've ever seen one.
Slopes we sought to bypass; Jomah seen in the midst (Kylie)
We avoid the slopes and gain an extra couple hundred feet on frozen crust (point for snowshoes), mostly to ensure there's a line devoid of wet slabs for the descent. All-knowing quarterback me/we wishes we had taken the direct Stan's shortcut on the up as well as the down. It's probably a good thing we didn't as we might've burned some time finding the waterfall bypass in the dark.
The long way âround and up and down burned some time. A couple hours more than expected. The sun is already out and our slope is baking. Let's give it a looksee anyway.
Approach couloir
Shaded I guess. Old scarps visible and slopes pleasantly roller-balled. A mere looksee returns to a climb.
Slopes on approach
Part of why stable conditions are necessary
The route consists of several hundred feet of moderate slopes and another several hundred feet of inset couloir to match. The couloir has potential for several short steps to hold ice and mixed rock. But not today. Firm snow all the way up to the last ice-free rockband and the ice-lovers in Boggy and Kylie heave a sigh of disappointment.
Nearly to the couloir (Kylie)
Kylie waiting on us yappers
The last rockband looks easy and short from below but not so friendly up close (Jomah).
Kylie tries right and gives it the bird. I try left. Eh, it goes. A bit of stemming and shallow ice sticks. Move right awkwardly on slab and hug a bulging chockstone. Five feet later and I'm at an impasse. A committing mantle to an overhanging chockstone, maybe a move or two of M3.
First step (Kylie)
The current terrain isn't exactly great for resting and scoping things out. Well now. Jomah has the rope and follows up next, quickly moving on ahead. He pulls the mantle, gauges the final chock and says no go. I start down, requesting a spot from Kylie and Boggy and wondering where to go, thinking âlunchâ in all likelihood as the other options are unappealing.
âWait a minute,â says Jomah. It's doable. From an awkward perch, he snakes the rope to me and I drop it down to Kylie to belay. Boggy has a two screw anchor and Jomah can plug a purple beneath the chockstone. A 1,200 foot fall just became a 2 foot fall. Jomah pulls the move and plugs gear in a horizontal for the anchor. The horizontal is a bit shallow, but hey, it's alpine.
Couloir crux (Kylie)
Jomah's belay perch
Hook a right and we're at a saddle. Tower on right, dubbed âThe Thumb,â and summit on left, not a hundred feet higher. A few lines lead directly up from the saddle. A chimney on right and a hand crack on left both appear around 5.6, sunny and dry. So let's avoid it and see if why can find an icebox alternative.
Called in to work (Jomah)
Good mornin' views
Boggy drops off the saddle on steep snow and spies a short couloir that might save us a pitch. A bit of snow and two options ahead. On left is a curious fixed rope and short 10-ft stem chimney above the rappel route. On right is another stretch of snow. Further right is the standard route, which we don't even look at, assuming the north face is a plastered mess.
Boggy tipped us to a shortcut (Kylie)
Nearing the final pitch (Jomah)
Boggy heads towards the stem. Looks like a rope affair so he moves up the right snow branch. This dead ends. I move up to a ledge and reach an impasse. Well, Jomah has the rope. Wait a minute, this sounds familiar. The rope comes out and is snaked down to Kylie, who has a couple bomber pieces under a chockstone and a strong belay game.
Jomah leaves his pack and stems up, also leaving a tool mid-chimney as hands are easier. We expect him to call the pitch there and swap leads for one last traverse left to a 5.7 chimney, but the section is short and Jomah is able to link to the summit. He builds a bomber alpine anchor under shelving pancakes and brings us up, awkwardness ensuing in a tight stembox with packs.
Jomah on belay
Switching belay (Jomah)
Boggy nearing the final chimney (Jomah)
To be honest, I have difficulty describing a summit scene as a climactic affair. The climb is more fun and the descent a ready challenger. Nevertheless, we enjoy the views and wait for the east face to enter some shade.
It appears a mad dad made the west summit
âIt's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.â
Dallaski
Photo by Jomah
And down the hole we go, a 30m rap gets us below the rock. Snow up to 40 degrees along the standard path. Jomah and Kylie scope it out while Boggy and I pack the rope.
Descent gully below and left of Jomah. Swing right to hit the south face.
Kylie on rappel
Checking the slopes
Boggy descending
Heading to the south face. Don't miss the turn or things'll get scary.
Kylie at the cross over (Jomah)
The south slopes are still baking and we've got to cross the oven to get around low cliffs. But I don't want to go among mad people. Too bad, these people are the maddest of them all. We take a few different lines, wading waist deep. The slope is wet and so I guess now are my pants. Jomah is down below and kicks off a small point release. Small point release clears a cliff and gains speed. Small point release becomes a medium slide and now a big slide, running a quarter mile below. Interesting. At least it provides a solid booter. One by one we go until there were none and we can drop rockbands and slide paths down to the snowshoe and ski stash.
Note debris on right
A leisurely transition and we move on. Point for skis as Jomah cruises out the direct descent to the waterfall. We follow, breaking several inches of wet. Overall, it makes for quick work. The woods below are tedious and more level than down. Point for snowshoes.
The shortcut around the falls is fairly obvious; traverse a ledge out left/east.
âBegin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Stats:
8 mi/4.6K ft/13 hrs
5.7 or M3, steep snow
Single rack and 60 m each pair (we expected more ice). Crampons and tools.
|
