TR: Dragontail Couloir, RMNP 4/27/08
Preface
I was in the library last night, two pages into a 15 page paper when I got a PM from Prophet10, who was looking for a partner for today. I hadn't been skiing in seven weeks (grad school, recital, etc.) and I had no plans on skiing today, but I answered the call of duty. He wanted to ski the Dragontail, which had been on my short list of lines I wanted to ski this year. He had done it a few times before and knew the route, and the forecast called for a great day. I bailed on the paper and went home to get some sleep. In honor of that paper, (which I should be working on right now instead of this TR), I will present this trip report in formal research style. Feel free to critique my organization, content, and style.
Introduction
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/...04885ca1_o.jpg
The Dragontail Couloir rises approx. 1600 feet out of Tyndall Gorge in Rocky Mountain National Park. It has been the subject of several quality TR lately. You can approach it either via a 2 mile skin to the base of the couloir and boot up it, or skin along the ridge up towards Flattop Mountain. We chose to boot up it and be able to judge the snow conditions as we went.
A couple scenics.
Tyndall Gorge:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/...49c48dcf_b.jpg
Close up of Halletts North Face:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/...58d1ec4c_b.jpg
Body
The Approach
We set off from the parking lot a little after 7am. It was bluebird, with mild temperatures and little wind. The skin along the trail went by quickly, on hard, frozen, packed snow.
Trees:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/...b692c827_b.jpg
We were able skin up the apron a little before switching to crampons.
Prophet10:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/...1a0bb096_b.jpg
Shortly after:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/...454a5d10_b.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...g?t=1209351513
Some crazy ice:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2403/...f9d2d682_b.jpg
I led the bootpack the whole way, and it was brutal. There were sections of hard, exposed, frozen crust where it was easy to sink in front points, but most of it was 8-10" of heavy powder on top of a variable crust. As we got higher and it got warmer, the snow started to ball up on my boots, and every few steps I would have to knock it off.
Halfway up, a skier and snowboarder that had approached from the back dropped in. They kicked off a small 4-8" wind slap at the top, which fell harmlessly down the middle of the couloir while we were hugging the rock wall.
About two-thirds up, Prophet10 decided he didn't like the look of the cornice on top and had had enough, and waited while I topped out. The cornice was not as bad as it looked from below, and there was a section that just rolled over. The top great, with plenty of flat room and little wind. I geared up quickly to begin the decent.
Views and lines:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/...d9175555_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/...e3161393_b.jpg
The Decent
Looking over the roll over into the chute:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2037/...677ba8fd_b.jpg
To the left in this picture--down the fall line--is about 100 feet of cheese-grater rock bands/cliffs, i.e. no-fall zone. The traverse into the main chute was pretty scary.
After that, the next few hundred feet went like this: make 2-3 committing jump turns, traverse to side to let heavy sluff roll past, repeat. It was challenging, but the base was stable and consistent.
FRD:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...g?t=1209351567
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...g?t=1209352683
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...g?t=1209352765
Prophet10:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/...8b2d42f9_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/...3eae29a2_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/...05fddee7_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2119/...646b712d_b.jpg
Note two skiers heading up. There were also 3 climbers that followed us up, and I met three more skier a the top of the couloir. We saw another half dozen people on the way out.
Once the chute opened up a bit and the pitch mellowed out a little, we were able to open things up a little. The snow was wet and heavy, but smooth like butter.
On the apron--the last 500 feet went down in about 6 turns; I almost coasted all the way across the lake.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/...541940fd_b.jpg
The ski out was painless, and we got back to the trail head before noon for about 4 1/2 hours round trip.
Conclusion
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/...c6c7d72b_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/...de1a1b75_b.jpg
This was an awesome day on an awesome line. I'd like to hit again in winter powder conditions, but this was still great.
Lessons learned:
I'm buying a whippet before I do a line like this again. Climbing up the couloir, I had my axe in one hand and a pole in the other, but most of the time it was too steep for the pole to be useful in traditional fashion, and it would have provided a little more security on the exposed traverse into the chute. Any Boulder-area folks have one to sell?
Besides the wet sluff, the snowpack was still bomber on our way down. However, the climbing and skiing would have been easier an hour or two earlier.
While approaching from the back would probably have been much easier, it was good to know exactly what the conditions were going to be on the way down after climbing up.
Enjoy, and get out there while it's still good.
