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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2009 - 12:20pm PT
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Upper Coney Lake/Paiute N Face Cirque: Part Two
(a reprise of the same tour posted above,
But completed a couple of days ago, this time, affording a proper review of the upper cirque):
12-15-2009
 Starting Elevation, 9161 feet
Total Elevation Gain, 1779 feet
Round-Trip Mileage, 12 miles
Round-Trip Time, 7 hours (given considerable trail breaking in this seldom tracked Coney Lakes drainage)
I like to get an early start in these things; especially if it’s a long one, say, before noon is good!
On this particular day I left the car from Beaver Reservoir at 11:50 a.m.
Due to persistent winter weather and swirling cloud cover on the divide, this can be said to be an unusually crisp early winter view from Beaver Reservoir up into the St. Vrain Glacier and Elk Tooth area:
For a thorough picture essay on what it’s like up on those ridges depicted above,
Check out the story beginning right around post # 91 of this thread:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=481291&tn=80
The initial view of Sawtooth Peak viewed from Coney Flats:
(Coney is another word for Pika)
The best way into the drainage, is to stay in the trees to the right of the marshes, following the Buchanan Pass Trail,
And swing a wide left turn up against the intervening ridge just short of Sawtooth:
As an aside, while we are looking at it, Sawtooth’s east ridge affords a nice moderate scramble:
A series of sturdy foot bridges lead the way across Coney Flats:
Not long after leaving the Buchanan Pass Trail, time to start the work:
Once leaving Coney Flats, these were the only tracks I saw:
An early view through the trees looking straight into Paiute’s North face, using telephoto,
Confirming that I might get a good view of the cirque from the final destination at upper Coney Lake:
Much of the two hour climb is carried out in thick trees on the side hill west of Coney Creek:
(a bit of extra hardship without poles, but not too bad)
Exiting the deep forest:
The final rise giving way to my destination, guarded by a sturdy flank of small trees:
With the sun now below the ridge, amidst brutal winds,
I popped out into the strangely hospitable environs of Upper Coney Lake Cirque:
Paiute’s North face:
Paiute Pk is something of a geological nexus: “a very important summit geographically” as Gerry Roach writes,
Because it sits at the head of four major drainages.
In 1997, I spent a couple of days traversing the divide, and climbed Paiute’s North buttress:
go here for that trip report:
http://www.stonemastergear.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31:traverse-of-the-continental-divide-from-wild-basin-to-isabelle-glacier&catid=1:latest&Itemid=26
Looking over my shoulder on the way out:
Carving a few wide stanced turns through twilight and plunging back into the thick trees:
A final view before switching to headlamp and heading home:
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Dec 18, 2009 - 12:26pm PT
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VERY cool thread Roy, thanks for posting up all this great info!
Makes me want to head down there and go tour with you...don't I could keep up though...
CHEERS!
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Dec 18, 2009 - 12:28pm PT
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Beautiful!
That 11:50am start must have upped the adventure level a notch. What's your backup system,
just Lisa knows your plans or do you have a way to phone home?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2009 - 12:36pm PT
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Of course I do the responsible thing and let her know where I'm going.
In this case, before leaving for my tour,
That meant calling Louisville, Kentucky, where she had just placed sixth in the USATF Masters Cross Country Nationals!
(Cross country running; not skiing).
Cell phone does not work up in those valleys.
Sometimes a call can get out from a high ridge.
Choose your steps carefully and execute them wisely.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Dec 18, 2009 - 12:41pm PT
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thats allot of awesomeness. we've been spending more time at the indian peaks lately and i'm busy building my knowledge base of the area for future exploits not that different from your own.
thanks!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2009 - 12:42pm PT
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Winter days are so cold 'n daylight so short,
Chunks of night skiing are a habitual part of the pattern.
Sometimes I start a short tour at twilight....
It's not uncommon; check out this grueling suffer-fest:
http://www.elkmountaintraverse.org/html/history.html
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midarockjock
climber
USA
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Dec 18, 2009 - 02:30pm PT
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Like backpacking and snow shoeing given up for rock climbing, I
gave up cross country skiing for for downhill. However I wish I
would have tried those wider and turn able cross country skis. I
only used the narrow ones.
Cool photos.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Dec 18, 2009 - 06:23pm PT
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Thanks for that Roy. Another fine excursion.
Did you take any pictures of the North Face of Audobon? Supposed to be some nice spring ski/snowboard descents back there.
Rick
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Dec 18, 2009 - 06:35pm PT
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Great additions, Tar!
Lot's of envy here!!!!!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 18, 2009 - 09:38pm PT
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Rick:
At this time of the year, Audubon's North Side is not so enticing to the skier.
'Looks more like a bowling alley after an earthquake, so I didn't take any pictures.
But I do have these three "aerial" views from other excursions.
These are from Algonquin, to the west.
This is the "come hither" partially un-robed tease shot, taken mid July 1997, proximal to my bivuoac site:
And these two are from May 6, 2000, the day Lisa and I were married:
In this shot I am standing in front of the connection between Audubon's NW flank and Paiute's North face:
And this is the rest of that face on Audubon, the left side of it, stretching further east:
I can count well over half a dozen potential descent lines..... roughly 2000' vert drop to the lake.
No doubt filled in nicely during the fat of winter and ripe for spring ski season, as you suggest.
Chutes, gulleys, couloirs, clefts: whatever the nomenclature, you want to scootch right on down that stuff yes?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 19, 2009 - 12:03am PT
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Dec 19, 2009 - 01:21pm PT
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The very finest in freehand skiing, Roy. Many thanks!
So thorough, I do believe I was waxing in my sleep. Had to reread to ... well, just because what you've laid out looks so damn fun. Plus it gives us left-coast sliders a really up-close view of some of that fabled Rockies "we only wax blue or green" snow.
Besides, who can resist a chance encounter with the legendary Gary Neptune, in total retro-chic. A glimpse of his canvas rucksack alone is worth the full admission price. And how about that wolf-fur ruff on his parka? Skiing on pure wax, no less. This brings our blood to full boil, viewed from our maritime-influenced Sierra snowpack.
I'm not complaining about the part of being stripped to shirtsleeves half of our midwinter days, skiing in outfits rather reminiscent of Cowgirl #2. But waxing out here is consequently a bit more challenging, and we often enough end up by midday on the gooiest of klisters. Which is great while it's running, but a royal pain in the solvent bucket when a new dusting does a deep reset on the snowpack, clear back to basic blue (yes, we ski on it too -- yum!).
So recent years in the full laziness of middle age, while still as impatient as a teenager to get those boards on the snow, I'm skiing more and more on waxless. I think on reflection that choosing a climbing-patterned base over kicker skins also says a lot about the temperature of our snowpack, since waxless climbs well on softer snow while skins are better on icier surfaces. I still like the glide of waxless.
But, no getting around it, this digression shows beyond a doubt that I am this morning down on the coast not up in the snowy mountains. And, well, guess I'm jealous.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Dec 19, 2009 - 04:15pm PT
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Dec 19, 2009 - 08:43pm PT
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Yes. That's it. Probably could find corn on those lines on the Fourth of July, what with the altitude and due north aspect. Bit of a trek back to the car, though.
Rick
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snakefoot
climber
cali
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Dec 19, 2009 - 10:52pm PT
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bump for the badness.............
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Dec 24, 2009 - 02:14pm PT
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I'm sure there's more to come....
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:51pm PT
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The forecast was for an atrocious, faceted, slabby, unstable snowpack everywhere but inside the house.
A warm morning, plus windless blue skies guaranteed to afford a good look at the Devils Thumb.
It is often hit and miss as to whether a tour like this will have any tracks leading into the upper reaches of Jasper Lake and Devils Thumb Lake; or leading beyond the Woodland Lake turnoff for that matter.
Knowing this, I anticipated much trail breaking, so I brought poles and started early (before noon).
I also planned to stick to the broad drainage south of and well below those two lakes, avoiding any contact or exposure to slopes above 20°.
Recreational Opportunities !
After the initial 2 miles, I decided to take the Devils Thumb cut off trail; a bit steeper, but I had poles:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:52pm PT
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Fresh Colorado pow pow:
The beginning of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and my day’s destination out there on the horizon:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 29, 2009 - 12:53pm PT
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The two-hour point, and a common ending for tracked snows:
Gaining elevation:
The first distant sightings of the Devils Thumb and Peak 12,285:
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