Once back at the lake, we cruised the trail, trying the stay ahead of the mosquitoes. Tax ID: 27-3009280. Andy knew the peak's 15 steep pitches and she wanted to tackle them again. I am very thankful to be able to adopt and continue to provide lots of information about this wonderful peak here on SummitPost. March 27-April 2, 2023 (1 spot) April 3-9, 2023 (FULL) April 10-16, 2023 (FULL) Custom Dates for 4+ also available. The route had taken us 7 hours and 10 hours from car to summit. There were bomber finger locks and thin hands. Get Trail News Subscribe to our free email newsletter for hiking events, news, gear reviews and more. He did not hit any rocks, so I expected him to just get up and be fine, but I heard him moaning about his knee. All around us the surrounding mountains were plastered in new snow. The Dragontail Mountains are part of the Columbia Plateau, which is a large area of basaltic lava flows in the western United States. Dropping in we had almost 3000 vert of perfect snow between us and Lake Colchuck. This was my favorite section of the entire climb. I guess it is almost summer. This route bypasses the east face snowfield if it's late season and very icy. Winds increasing (calm on Mon night, near gales from the NW by Wed afternoon). Shuksan (15 ascents via 3 routes) Slesse Mountain (Northeast Buttress) Eldorado Peak (NW Face Couloir, Northeast Face and East Ridge) Forbidden Peak (West Ridge, East Ridge, North Ridge, NW Face) Dragontail Peak (Triple Couloirs, Backbone Ridge, Serpentine Arete) Right before reaching the pass, begin hiking southwest passing a small pond (Mist Pond) and aiming for the huge snowfield on the east face of Dragontail Peak. Kyle was able to get solid sticks in the duff (great lead Kyle! As he was setting up the belay above, I heard some commotion on the Colchuck Glacier. I led the next pitch, a 5.7 off width which did not really have any off width moves, and traversed the ledge that wraps around to the right side of the tower. Its position above Colchuck Lake was tantalizing. In the upper half of the pitch, I kept wandering upwards, eventually running out of rope and needing Jacob to simul a few feet to make a belay. We had finished the route! Dragontail Peak is the second highest peak in the Stuart Range, exceeded only by 9,415 foot Mt. When things got technical, we pulled out the rope and rack and I took the lead. For the walk-up route on the south side of the peak, either the Colchuck Lake/Aasgard Pass approach can be used, or you can hike the Snow Creek trail and ascend to the Enchantment basin from Snow Lakes. A lengthy and difficult hike up an iconic peak inside the Enchantments. Ed skiing down the Colchuck couloir after summiting Dragontail Peak, WA Soon enough both Scott and Dan were gone and we were hiking back to the chute. Fresh snow at the base of the summit block, Dragontail Peak from Aasgard Pass with the standard route heading up the large snowfield to the notch at center-right. I'm too wussy to drop in blind, especially on a route like TC's. One at a time we layed down our tracks in the wide open face. Subscribe to our free email newsletter for hiking events, news, gear reviews and more. The Stuart range sure holds a lot of fun for such a compact area. After a light snowfall, the air becomes clear and crisp and coupled with peak larch color, the scenery is probably the best in the country for a couple weeks in October. Fortunately we still had a few hours of daylight and headlamps in our backpacks. Ryan hikes up a moraine toward Backbone Ridge [click image for next] Originally my plans for Friday was to go climb Mt Stuart via the Cascadian Couloir. I earn a small commission on sales via these links at no additional cost to you. From the moment we were on the south face of Dragontail Peak the snow changed immediately. He looked great in the upper hand crack. Copyright 2022 CascadeClimbers.com Dispersed camping is not allowed between the road and Icicle Creek . Follow the well used boot path around the west side of Colchuck Lake and then continue through the bushes around its south shore. Nice route guys.I'm envious as all hell. At least the endless windboard is par for the course! Oh yeah! 14. For current mountain conditions contact the Wenatchee National Forest, Leavenworth Ranger District. Instead of riding Mount Stuart we would go for some north facing slopes. The page states that permit season ends on October 15th. Dragontail Peak, also known as Dragon Tail, is a mountain in the Stuart Range, in Chelan County, Washington.While climbing an adjacent peak, Lex Maxwell, Bob McCall, and Bill Prater remarked that the needles on the crest, southwest of the summit, resembled a "dragon tail". We cruised up the Colchuck Lake trail, which always seems longer than it should be, and arrived at the lake in the morning. Riding down we would work with the light kicking up snow in the sun. Lateral moraines always make for nice, efficient travel as long as you dont have to descend off either side. The helicopter spotted a body in the snow at the base of Triple Couloirs, north of Dragontail Peak, around 11:15 a.m., deputies said, though the helicopter could not land because of strong winds. Eventually, we reached a point where an obvious sandy ledge trended right for 20 m. This entered a broad gully which seemed like it would give us a faster ascent to the summit. I'm stoked to be back in Alaska! The plan was to ride the upper south Couloir before riding powder down to Colchuck Lake. Yellow = Dragontail Peak, Triple Couloirs (III+ WI3 M3), Red = Dragontail Peak, Gerber-Sink (IV WI3+ M4), Green = Colchuck Peak, North Buttress Couoir (II). Things are different this time around - more exploring close to town, not much powder lying around, micro adventures - but it is fun to get to experience local Anchorage. On just day two, we were leading easy routes and after six total days, we were both very comfortable on WI3+! Parts of each of the Triple Couloirs are visible cutting the center of the peak, and the Gerber Sink follows runnels connecting prominent snow bands to the right of center, finishing in the 3rd couloir. Since Dragontail lies east of the crest, it tends to be warmer and have better weather in spring making it a popular peak to climb in May and June when the permit system is not yet in effect. Tieton Gorge Climbing; Snow Creek Wall. Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 15 h 11 min to complete. The ice looked barely a centimeter thick in most places. Overview. About NMS; . Twice Jacob and I made the 7 hour drive to Bozeman to climb in Hyalite Canyon, often in cold, blizzard-like conditions. Climbing gear and expertise required. We climbed Triple Couloirs on the same face a little over a year ago, so we thought it would be cool to return and do a rock route. This post may contain affiliate links. Skiing big-mountain lines got you thinking about badass skiers? A climb of Dragontail Peak will surely bringhappiness to anyone attempting any of the many classic routes. As spring rolled around, we set our eyes on loftier goals. I took a minute to digest the scene. Tim and I were actually #1 and 2 ahead of Shannon and Yuri- they broke trail up to the TCs and up Couloir #1, then Tim and I took over from the bottom of #2 to the summit. But use cautionserious accidents have happened glissading from Aasgard Pass. Ski Sickness, chronologically. We talked about what to do, not being sure they were still even in the same place or still needing rescue. Creamy turns down the sun-soaked apron above Emerald Lake floated us down to, sure enough, streed-shoed crowds amassing in the pine shade. West northwest wind between 9 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. The trail initially follows the small creek which bisects the huge talus slope on the lower half of the ascent. However, the answer quickly became clear. It was this huge, 20 ft long, 4 ft wide ledge, perfect for switching to rock shoes! you can take at this route/place. There are no activities scheduled at this location. There are two trailheads used to climb Dragontail. Rock on this peak is unusually sound and its expansive NW face is one of the finest walls in the Cascades. Luckily, it was dead calm and I was able to communicate with them from 1000 ft above. A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Thu night. Early season starts whenever the Mountaineer Creek Road opens to the Stuart Lake Trailhead, usually mid-April (call Leavanworth Ranger Station). We awoke the next morning around 4 am and packed up. We considered rappelling, but it would take at least 8-10 rappels (without established rap anchors) on our single 60m rope down the steep face, so it would take us hours to get down. Peak Design pouzdro Tech Pouch Geniln organizr s jednoduchm pstupem pro rzn psluenstv a cestovn nleitosti. Theres very little actual ice climbing on this route, especially in this condition. This post may contain affiliate links. In this snow condition, the pickets were mostly useless. Yes, I agree to receive newsletters from Bergfreunde GmbH by email comprising the Alpinetrek Newsletter (product information, promotions) and Alpinetrek Deals (special offers) for The route follows chimneys and corners for 150 meters to a notch in the crest of the NE Buttress proper. Nice!!! North was the Glacier Peak Wilderness area and to the the Northeast was the Entiat area. - Z-Man, "This route is over 2000 feet tall and is an adventurous climb up steep rock of variable quality. SOLD JUN 14, 2022. Thanks! From the higher snow, I spotted a nice rocky ledge we could get to and figured that would be a good place to rack up. It is 4.5 miles one way to the lake with 2,000 feet of elevation gain. 02 may 2021 Vallecito Mountain solo ski, from Taos Ski Valley, NM. Hard 4.8 (511) Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Wenatchee River Ranger District. With this out of the way, we sprinted to the top, surprised to find ourselves on the summit after 4 hours, 20 minutes of work. Although three straight days of sun at this time of year might be an anomaly . It is a staggering mountain with various peaks formed by the ridges. Dragontail Peak. Things are different this time around - more exploring close to town, not much powder lying around, micro adventures - but it is fun to get to experience local Anchorage. Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. I traverse right for a while, and then left for a really long time, linking ledges all the way to where the Serpentine Arete joined Backbone Ridge. Over the weekend, Jacob and I met up to climb Serpentine Arete, a long 2000 ft moderate route up the huge, complex north face of Dragontail Peak in the Enchantments. searching for extra of your magnificent post. Get to know this 24.6-mile out-and-back trail near Leavenworth, Washington. Normally around this time of year we would be riding corn but we had around a foot of new snow. updates, images and resources. We were the first to make it this far recently, possibly even in the entire calendar year! Creek road opens to the Stuart Range sure holds a lot of for! 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