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christensent Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 658 | TRs | Pics
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Road is closed to wheeled vehicles approximately 1.5 miles before the trailhead. Easy groomed road skinning beyond and skis out (except it's melting and already had a brief carry on the way down).
From the trailhead, I skinned all the way up Saturday morning but coming down the trail had melted out tremendously and you would now be carrying skis almost all the way to tree line. The direct route from the bridge at the start of the trail is not even close to in. It'd be miserable. Good snow coverage from the standard gully that's always used in spring skiing.
Setup camp at 7600ft a bit before dark on the glacier. It was very windy all night so I didn't get much sleep in the 14 hours of darkness. Picked up about 6" of wind transport over the night and snow was blowing under my tent's fly and I got hit in the face by ice crystals much of the night. After midnight the wind completely disappeared though and I got some sleep.
Started up at 6am and hit the base of the Roman Wall as I turned off my headlamp. The route more or less follows the standard summer route but you do have to weave some crevasses that span much wider than in the spring or early summer. I was lucky to have great snow conditions that didn't even require ski crampons.
The lower half of the Roman Wall is not really in existence yet (filled with rock cliff bands). You have to follow the ridge line up to about 9700ft on impenetrable rime ice. From there you can get onto the wall which is currently a mix of hard rime ice, powder, and hard-pack sastrugi. Cramponed up and skied down to where you have to crampon the rime-ridge.
It was super hot all day, and what felt like the coldest part of the whole descent was skiing the groomed road and getting back to where I parked.
Right as I hit the top, a cloud cap rolled in and I couldn't see where the true summit was. I went over the false summit (which is only about 25 feet below the true summit - which I've always counted as a successful climb). Pulled out my phone to check GPS map and tried to navigate to the true summit. I somehow spent a few minutes accidentally doing a 360 circumnavigation of the false summit and ended up right where I started at the top of the Roman wall, and I left spooked out by just how hard it is to navigate up there without visual references. The summit of a flat-topped volcano is a truly bizarre (and not great) place to be in low visibility.
Skied out everything except 400 feet of the rimed ridge, and the Heliotrope trail which is not possible to ski. Started out trying to boot crampon down the Roman Wall but quickly realized it was in condition where it'd be much safer and easier to just ski it and deal with the crap conditions. Relatively fun descent. Only one other group I ran into on the upper mountain Saturday, and also saw two people out in the middle of the Coleman on Saturday afternoon walking towards the North Ridge (I'd be curious to hear how that worked out, never saw them again).
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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Bright River goslowgofar
Joined: 21 Aug 2007 Posts: 223 | TRs | Pics Location: above the pogonip |
Thanks for the report , I have been see "wind waves" in shiny ice on the Coleman . But I could not tell whether you were approaching from the north or south. The Coleman glacier and headwall can be reached both by the Schreiber's meadow's trailhead, and the Glacier Creek Road. I am surprised that is was not gated.
..-and rest thee by many brooks and hearthsides without misgiving. Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. HDT
..-and rest thee by many brooks and hearthsides without misgiving. Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. HDT
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Brushbuffalo Member
Joined: 17 Sep 2015 Posts: 1887 | TRs | Pics Location: there earlier, here now, somewhere later... Bellingham in between |
Good trip and helpful report of conditions.
christensent wrote: | It was super hot all day, and what felt like the coldest part of the whole descent was skiing the groomed road and getting back to where I parked. |
Quite an inversion we're in, isn't it?
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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christensent Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 658 | TRs | Pics
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Bright River wrote: | But I could not tell whether you were approaching from the north or south. The Coleman glacier and headwall can be reached both by the Schreiber's meadow's trailhead, and the Glacier Creek Road. I am surprised that is was not gated. |
This was from the north via Heliotrope Ridge. The road is closed only about 1.5 miles from the trailhead, there is no snow before that other than trivial patches of slush.
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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ale_capone Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 720 | TRs | Pics
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Beautiful!
Isn't glacier creek road self closing/ closed altogether once they start grooming it for snow machines?
I don't recall ever seeing a gate. Just a roaming closed sign.
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christensent Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 658 | TRs | Pics
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ale_capone wrote: | Beautiful!
Isn't glacier creek road self closing/ closed altogether once they start grooming it for snow machines?
I don't recall ever seeing a gate. Just a roaming closed sign. |
Yes. The groomer puts a "no wheeled vehicles" sign and a snow berm wherever they start grooming, and as snow melts out snowmobilers often advance the sign to the next good parking area. You can always drive to that sign, there's no seasonal closure at mile post 1. There is no gate anywhere on the road that I've ever seen open or closed.
Once it is closed, it's a fairly unpleasant 7.5 mile road skin with significant skin-out sections too. Did that once and I doubt I'll ever do it again.
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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