November 3rd Conditions:

Believe it or not - despite the warm and dry atmosphere of the last month, ice season is again getting into full-swing in Rocky Mountain National Park.   On a climbing tour this weekend to the upper Odessa Gorge we found ice forming on the Hot Doggies wall as well as above on the East Face of Notchtop.  Although this classic alpine route is almost in good enough ice shape for the season, it is still missing ice on the initial pitches which would likely involve some sketchy slab climbing.  

                 Late afternoon sun on the south and east faces of Notchtop Mountain on Nov. 1st, 2008.

This is usually the best time of year for an ascent of this RMNP ultra-classic mixed route due to the lower avalanche danger which is more common in the late fall when there is still minimal snow on the face.  After the New Year or whenever the new snow reaches critical mass due to storms and wind loading, the danger rating quickly reaches into the CONSIDERABLE to EXTREME categories which would be a "no-go" for climbing on what is one of the more avalanche prone faces in the park.  Spring can bring cold enough conditions and stable enough snow for this route to have a lower avalanche danger, but those ideal spring conditions seem to be more rare these years.

            The Hourglass and Hot Doggies (R-L) dodging the sun on Nov. 1st, 2008.  

Avalanche danger is still low on this alpine route and most others in the park due to a minimal snowpack and little new snow in the last 30 days.  The weather above treeline for the last two months has been a mostly positive diurnal process of warm days and cold nights which on south and west aspects results in a stronger snowpack - or none at all where it has melted away.  That said, the very dry atmosphere (10-15% humidity) and constant winds up high are quickly sublimating the existing snowpack into a less stable mass of mostly faceted and cold grains.  

                 Looking up the left-most of the Ptarmigan Headwall Couloirs - we forked right near the top.

Unfortunately, all of this new snow from the last few months will be the layer that once covered will be the base layer of our winter snowpack and this will likely result in a composition of strong over weak layering which is a key factor in avalanche potential.  Especially in the early winter season, this depth hoar layer is more often the failure layer resulting in a deadly slab avalanche.  These basal facet layers are common causes (along with slope incline and a human trigger) of deadly avalanches when the snowpack is more shallow and this weak,  faceted layer is closer to the surface.  Once we get some new snow up high, the avalanche danger could rise quickly on slopes where this layer is currently in place.  On slopes where there is no snow at the moment, this weak layer will likely not be an issue.

    Reed Sjostrom topping out on the left-gully variation of the Ptarmigan Headwall on Nov. 1st, 2008. 

Due to the strong and cold winds which drove us away from climbing the Spiral Route on Notchtop, we ended up detouring to plan B which was to climb the left-most of the gullys on the Ptarmigan Headwall.  The left gully was in great climbing shape (not skiing) with water ice on the sides, firm neve for about half of the route and shin-deep new snow to hard windslab for the remainder- good cramponing skills were necessary for this ascent and my partners for this climb were thrilled to have such great weather for their first technical alpine climb.  We encountered low winds and temperatures near freezing for this climb which included a loop past the east face of Flattop and around Lake Helene to reach the base of the upper Ptarmigan Valley.   The majority of the approach was on dry ground and we only really needed gaiters on the boots for the climb of the couloir.   After topping out on the Continental Divide, a few steps away was the divide trail system which we followed east for 4 miles to the Bear Lake trailhead.

 The east end of the north face of Thatchtop Mountain with the Deep Freeze and NE Gully highlighted.

Last week, we enjoyed a fun day climbing up a mostly dry gully on the east end of the north face of Thatchtop Mountain, the first gully to the left of the epic Deep Freeze, otherwise known as the Northeast Gully.  This route is one of the closest to the road at this time of year with just a 1-1.5 hr. hike to the east end of the lake known as the Loch and a few hundred yards of talus hiking deposits one at the base of this cleft that cuts a deep gash on this side of the face.  On our first time up this route, we found two great pitches of thick WI-3 ice starting on the right side of the gully with a long pitch of WI-1 between the two steeper ones.  Rock gear was helpful for the anchors- a description of the route is available under the incorrectly titled Northwest Face: 

 http://www.mountainproject.com/v/colorado/co_ice__mixed/rmnp__mixedice/105747538

        The All Mixed Up Cirque and steep approach to the east face of Thatchtop Mountain. Photo courtesy of O. Dickinson.

The east aspect of Thatchtop Mountain has ice forming in many places including the usual suspects of All Mixed Up and the Organ Pipes and early season ascents of of AMU have been happening although the initial pitches are a bit on the thin side.  These climbs are much more enjoyable in the early season as fresh ice is much more user friendly and the approach, which can be a deep snow slog in mid-winter (with high avi danger) whereas it is mostly on grass and shallow snow at the moment.  This could all change with the storm forecast for later this week.

An ascent of All Mixed Up in late October with minimal snow on the approach.

The east face of Longs is mostly dry and only the first two pitches of the incredible Alexander's Chimney are ice filled - the remaining 500' of the climb offers an assortment of cracks up to 5.8 in difficulty to reach the Broadway Ledge system. The Smear of Fear and adjacent testpieces aren't looking likely to come into shape this season which is more often the case- thus the descriptive of ephemeral that often precedes these routes.  The Flying Dutchman and Dreamweaver Couloir have been seeing all the action up high and the thick ice at the Loft is drawing in a few hearty souls who don't mind a climb to 13K for 80' of ice climbing.

                     The west gully filling in quickly with ice above the west end of Black Lake in the Glacier Gorge.  10/26/08 

Routes are sorted by current Avalanche Danger Level:

LOW Avalanche Danger          

Necrophilia WI 5, M5	Deep Freeze   WI5, M5	Black Lake Slabs  WI 2
OUT     (mostly dry)	OUT (half-formed)	IN forming (late-Nov)

The Window WI 5,  M4	Vanquished WI 5,  M4	Hot Doggie WI 5+
IN            (and thin)	OUT (mostly dry)	OUT forming (late Nov.)