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Up-to-date information on ice, alpine routes, and backcountry skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Snow conditions and avalanche danger are forecast by Eli Helmuth, an AMGA certified rock, alpine, and ski mountaineering guide and owner of ClimbingLife Guides.
Warning: Ice and avalanche conditions change constantly and the information provided here should not be the final say in making the best decisions in regard to your risk management in the mountains. ClimbingLife, LLC and its contributors accept no liability for your decisions based on this information. Ice and mixed climbing are very dangerous sports and one can easily die or be seriously injured engaging in these activities. Proceed at your own risk, plan for the best outcome and be prepared for the worst.
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June 17th, 2011
Snow and Ice Report
Rocky Mountain National Park
Skiing and alpine snow conditions are overall excellent due to the still- thick coverage in RMNP, except along the crest of the Continental Divide and other high elevation terrain where constant winter winds limit snow accumulation.
Chandra hopping and juking down the upper Dragontail on June 5th as the runnel in the middle continues to grow into a mini half-pipe.
The diurnal melt-freeze cycle has been strong with predominantly clear nights for most of June and cool enough daytime temp's to minimize the shedding (avalanches) and set-up most slopes for an ideal corn cycle. Warm aspects E-S are peaking at 10am with E-N closer to noon for ideal corn in this moderate weather regime.
Joanne Helmuth getting in some laps on the Left Book at Lumpy Ridge under another perfect day: a few clouds, light breeze, temp's in the 70-80's, and a minimal threat of thunderstorms or rain have been the dominant trend thus far in June.
 A view from the Notchtop Couloir of the north-facing, most westerly of the Ptarmigan Fingers; the many couloirs that bisect this wide north face.
Photo courtesy of Brad White.
The Ptarmigan Headwall on the Continental Divide in RMNP with fresh snowboard tracks on the climber's left side of the snow and rock ridge that splits this eastern aspect slope. An old crown is visible below the cornice from a slab cycle that ended in late May.
Photo courtesy of Rick Gaukel.
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Looking at the top of the climber's left hand fork of the Dragontail Couloir on June 5th, 2011 at 10am when the corn was peaking (not too soft, not too hard) in this most classic of RMNP coolers.
Prime corn conditions starting from the top of this couloir will likely be in the 9-10am time frame on these south-east oriented gashes although it's recommended to check-out the eastern and northern aspect slopes for the best snow conditions. Many of the south aspects are getting runnelled-out from the constant sloughing avalanches that make this the shedding season.
Click on outlined photos to enlarge.
A close-up of the Hallett Chimney in mid-June with significant ice forming in some of the crux pitches of this most ephemeral mixed line. Hallett's has been getting lots of action the last month with numerous parties each week taking a stab at this "moderate classic" in the alpine realm of snow mushrooms, fickle temperatures, thin ice, and dynamic conditions.
Dan "the weather man" Gottas enjoying prime skiing conditions in the Never Summer Range of RMNP while on a ski ascent and descent of Mount Nimbus (12,706') on June 10th, 2011. 95% of this tour was spent on skis with only the beginning and end of the hike at the 9k elevation not holding adequate snow.
With weeks of clear nights and a snowpack that is double or triple the average in places, we are experiencing the beauty of a "Sierra spring" where a sustained corn cycle makes for excellent above-treeline travel and great skiing conditions throughout much of Rocky Mountain National Park. We waited on the summit of Nimbus for the snow to soften and it wasn't until noon on this cooler weather day that the corn off the summit was in peak condition. |
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Eli and Brian Stevenson traversing along the base of Red Mountain with the snow covered summit of Mount Nimbus in the western distance. Photo courtesy of Dan Gottas.
With good conditions for snowmelt (ice) and snow travel, the alpine season is in full-swing in the high country with mixed routes currently forming on the colder, east to north aspects at the higher elevations. Routes such as Vanquished, Alexander's Chimney, Flying Dutchman, Dreamweaver, and similar are coming into firm snow (neve') and ice shape, although this could quickly be tweaked by higher temp's or a cloudy night.
For dry rock, check-out the Chasm View Wall, the Petit, Saber, and the south face of Notchtop are among the first walls to lose their winter coat of snow and ice. Some of the lower elevation walls like Hallett's North Buttress are mostly dry but with ample snow on the approaches and descents.
Dan Gottas taking in the view from Trail Ridge Road of the eastern aspects of the Never Summer Range after our successful descent from the summit of Mount Nimbus. There are also ample skiing opportunities off of Trail Ridge including the Sundance slope and relatively easy access to the Mummy Range and Mt. Ida areas of RMNP.
D1 sloughs on the northeast face of Red Mountain on June 10th. If one doesn't know a great deal about snow science, digging a pit is of little to no help in decision-making and realistically, most pit diggers can't accurately interpret what they're looking at anyway and just use it as an excuse to continue ahead or retreat due to "danger".
Unfortunately, the snow science is a little grey with even the best training and execution (rare), so we have to look at other sources of information to make the best decisions- avalanche activity being number one with the fallibility of human/group decision-making abilities being the crux in this life or death paradigm.
 Mark Lewis hopping over cornice and sloughing debris in the very warm south-facing Corral Couloir on June , 2011. Photo courtesy of Wilder Daniels.
We're generally in either one of two cycles for dangerous snow avalanches - slab or slough types. These will occur simultaneously but more often just one or the other type of cycle is prevalent, as is the case in RMNP at the moment.
Currently we're primarily in a slough cycle which is heat caused and has little to do with layering (above treeline or 10k), other than what is on the surface and easily observable without the use of a shovel. Evidence of heat-related avalanches are evident in debris piles under warm aspects and significant cornice debris on the valley floors due to heat.
There haven't been any significant slab releases due to strong over weak layering occurring in June due to a lack of new snow and strong diurnal temperatures fluctuations which favor an overall strengthening of the snowpack on all aspects. Evidence of crowns from slab failures are visible on some east to south aspects, likely due to a melt-freeze crust which developed an icy surface and new snow in late May provided the fresh slab. It looks like only large cornice collapses have been able to trigger some isolated slab releases, the last ones being more than two weeks old.
Despite ample afternoon avalanche activity, with the recent clear-sky atmospheres, the snowpack is re-freezing nightly at 9.5k as observed recently at Bear Lake and so avalanche danger is generally LOW between 7pm and 7am on most slopes, with the warmest south aspect reaching HIGH avi danger (slides likely) by 2-3pm each day.
Read many books, study every avalanche accident report, take many different avalanche classes for more than a dozen days total, and keep asking yourself and partners, "Is this a good idea?"
Digging holes just for the sake of doing snow science (in the hopes of finding a GO or NO-GO answer is not helpful and likely mis-leading due to snow in the mountains being a highly variable substance.
Dan Cillo on the lower stretch of Martha in early June with another climbing party behind. Firm snow and minimal ice on Martha have created "cruiser conditions". This hot spot on the south face of Mt. Lady Washington is quickly melting-out under sunny skies and an ascent would ideally be done by headlamp to avoid heat-caused rockfall which is common in this warm cleft. This route is just days away from being completely gone for the season- catch it while you can!
Photo courtesy of John Balciar.
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Buster Jesik in the middle of the Hallett Chimney on the North Buttress on June 12th, 2011.
Photo courtesy of Charles Ince.
This classic mixed route has been in better than average ice and snow conditions for the last few few weeks as the warm conditions on this north-facing cliff have contributed to a melt-freeze cycle of ice growth and snow consolidation. Next week's colder weather forecast could make for excellent conditions in this cleft between 11pm and 6am, before the sunrise starts to warm-up the adjacent cliffs.
 Buster bustin' a move on the Hallett Chimney before the unconsolidated snow mushroom above stopped the team's efforts.
Hopefully more melt-freeze conditions will help this route become more climbable in the weeks to come? Photo
Conditions in this couloir are quickly disintegrating in the heat of the sun which reaches this route by 7am and so climbing by headlamp would be a prudent way to climb most of this route as the daytime heat quickly transforms this gash into a wet bowling alley of unpleasantness.
A Flight for Life helicopter making an emergency landing at the Boulder Falls parking lot in Boulder Canyon.
Numerous accidents in late May resulting from climber error have made for a rough start to the Front Range climbing season.
Identifiable human errors have included 1. Climber-belayer mis-communication resulting in a ground-fall from 60+'. 2. A climber's tie-in knot not being finished resulting in a 50' ground fall, and 3. A lack of solidly placed gear on a crack climb resulting in a 30' ground fall.
All of these climbers have luckily survived their ordeals but we highly recommend paying attention to all of the details and perhaps pursuing advanced training in trad leading, self-rescue, crack climbing techniques, and multi-pitch techniques that will only increase your safety abilities, climbing techniques, and technical systems in the vertical world.
The north face of Hayden Spire as seen from Trail Ridge on June 10th, 2011.
 Jason Killgore on a rare ski descent of the large northwest facing couloir on Mt. Alice in RMNP, skied perhaps for the first time in early June, 2011.
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Rick Gaukel on a mid-June splitboard descent of the ultra-classic Notchtop Couloir on the south face of Notchtop Mountain above the Ptarmigan Valley. This slope is more exposed to the westerly winds and so stays much cooler than the neighboring Dragontail Couloir and is less prone to big sloughs and deep runnels. Peak corn on this day was reported at 10am.
Photo courtesy of Kingsley Hobson.
Chandra psyched on the stellar ski conditions in the Dragontail Couloir on June 5th with Emerald Lake below still very ice covered at this time.
Dream Lake further down valley is mostly melted-out at the moment making travel in this section a little more difficult. Melting streams and lakes should be treated suspect as snow collapses along the banks and under bridges could be a safety issue.
A view from Emerald Lake of the Hallett Couloir and the north buttress of Hallett in the mid-morning sun (9am). Some of the rock routes on the classic second buttress on Hallett have been seeing action this month with snowy approaches and descents often proving to be the crux of the day.
Jeff Shafer above the current minimal mixed section on the north face of Longs Peak that started with an ascent of Martha on the south face of neighboring Mt. Lady Washington.
The north face of Longs saw numerous ski descents in early June as it was 99% filled-in with mostly solid snow conditions making for a no-doubt memorable descent from the summit of RMNP's highest peak and its only 14er.
Photo courtesy of John Balciar.
 Jason Killgore on the likely FD of the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar Couloir on Mt. Alice. Jason and his partner Joe did a daytrip of approx. 19 miles and 5k vert. to the 12.5k height on Alice's northwest face. Jason put up a nice trip report here.
Photos courtesy of Joe Sombatero.
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Looking west from Trailridge road at a close-up of the cloud peaks in the Never Summer Range (Ni-chebe-chii) whose ridgeline is the western border of RMNP on the northern end of the park.
Being some of the most snow covered peaks in the park with relatively easy access from the Colorado River trailheads at their base, we expect to be skiing off these summits for the next month or longer, depending on how long the snowpack lasts this year.
A close-up of the east face of Mount Cumulus (12,725') in the Never Summer Range of RMNP. Its east face is a ski mountaineers playground with perhaps the most wide-open snow slopes in all of RMNP. A solid corn snow cycle, due to clear night time skies (long-wave radiation loss) has resulted in fantastic skiing and boarding conditions and with the warm weather, an exceptionally comfortable type of backcountry experience.
 The northeast side of Flattop Mountain holds this large slope and somewhat east facing couloir to looker's right that offer excellent backcountry skiing conditions on somewhat more moderate terrain.rMany of the current spring trails in RMNP do not exactly follow the summertime paths due to still-thick snow coverage, so using GPS for precise navigation could be helpful and it's generally a good idea not to blindly follow any trail in the snow - decide if it's truly heading in the direction that you want to go.
A view looking west up the Ptarmigan Valley at the striking Notchtop Spire (near right) which looks mostly dry except for ample snow still in the "hanging gardens" near the top of the winding Spiral Route. the east face is still mostly firm snow with some ice showing in the crux pitch and a night time ascent is recommended as these slopes heat-up very early in the day this time of year.
 
Rick Gaukel kicking steps up the Ptarmigan Finger on Flattop Mountain before a splitboard descent of this classic north-facing couloir. (right) Laura Somenzi figuring out the sequence at Nip and Tuck Crag in Boulder Canyon, CO on a climbing techniques clinic.
 
 Eli Helmuth is a UIAGM Licensed Mountain Guide, AMGA Certified Rock, Alpine, and Ski Mountaineering Guide, and a devoted fan of turkey, avocado, and pickle sandwiches. Eli is seen enjoying such a sandwich on the summit of Mt. Nimbus with time to dry-out the feet before the slippery descent.
Eli offers year-round outings, seminars, private instruction, and international climbing expeditions. Check-out our guiding home page and the calendar of rock climbing events coming up in the months ahead, including our new five day rock skills camp.
Contact us at:
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or call 970.744.4898 to plan a fun-filled and educational mountain outing with Eli Helmuth, RMNP's most experienced mountain guide.
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Photos below are only representative of common conditions, they are not current.
Consult the CAIC website for current Avalanche Danger forecasts here.
Routes are sorted by current forecast Avalanche Danger Level:
LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely)
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Hidden Falls
WI- 3+
Gone |
Loch Vale Ice
WI 2-5
M1-8
Gone
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Jewel Lake
WI 2-3
Gone
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely)
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Jaws
WI 3-5
Gone
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Squid
WI 5+ 5.11 (M7)
Gone
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Deep Freeze
WI- 5
OUT - too dry
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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NE Gully
WI 3
Gone
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Necrophilia
WI 5, M5
could form ephemeral
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Black Lake Slabs
WI2
Gone
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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The Crypt
WI-4
Gone
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Grace Falls
WI 3-5
IN
mostly snow covered |
Columbine Falls
WI3-4
IN
mostly buried
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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Flying Dutchman
WI-2
IN
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All Mixed Up
WI -3, M2
OUT
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West Gully
WI - 3
OUT |
LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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Martha
WI - 2, M-1
IN
with some soft snow and minimal ice.
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Hallet's Chimney
WI-5, M-4
IN
wait until next cold storm or climb at night
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Field's Chimney
WI-5. M4
IN/OUT
wait until next cold storm
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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Alexander's Chimney
WI-4, M4
IN
wait until next cold storm or climb at night
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Smear of Fear
WI-5, M5
OUT
maybe in November?
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New Beginnings
WI-5, M5
OUT
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely)
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The Window
WI-5, M4
OUT/IN
ephemeral
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Vanquished
WI-5, M4
OUT/IN
could form in current melt-freeze cycles
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Hot Doggies
WI-5+
OUT
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LOW (1) Avalanche Danger as of 6/16/11 (human caused unlikely) |
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East Face, Notchtop
WI-3+, M3
OUT/IN
90% snow climb w/ short mixed or ice or skiable w/ 1 rap
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North American Avalanche Danger Scale
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Danger Level
(& Color)
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Avalanche Probability and Avalanche Trigger
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Degree and Distribution of Avalanche Danger
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Recommended Action
in the Backcountry
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Why |
Where |
What to Do |
LOW (1)
(GREEN)
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Natural avalanches very unlikely. Human triggered avalanches unlikely.
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Generally stable snow. Isolated areas of instability. |
Travel is generally safe. Normal caution is advised. |
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(YELLOW)
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Natural avalanches unlikely. Human triggered avalanches possible.
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Unstable slabs possible on steep terrain.
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Use caution in steeper terrain and on certain aspects.
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CONSIDERABLE (3)
(ORANGE)
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Natural avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches probable.
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Unstable slabs probable on steep terrain. |
Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. |
HIGH (4)
(RED)
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Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
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Unstable slabs likely on a variety of aspects and slope angles.
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Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Safest travel on windward ridges and lower angle slopes without steeper terrain above.
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EXTREME (5)
(BLACK)
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Widespread natural or human triggered avalanches certain.
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Extremely unstable slabs certain on most aspects and slope angles. Large, destructive avalanches possible. Large, destructive avalanches possible.
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Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided and travel confined to low angle terrain well away from avalanche path run-outs.
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