[twodogdad]

I skinned from Eight Mile TH (end of clear road) to the S end of Colchuck Lake, and spend the night in a snowcave. (The highlight of the approach was skiing the lake in the late evening: exquisite solitude, Alpenglow, and the fast surface of frozen water.) On Sunday, the lower third of Aasgard made for a very ice skin on hard snow but then problems began: I had left my crampons at home so I had to carry and kick steps in ice, often having to kick 3-4 times to gain minimal toehold (crossing frozen avalanche debris was actually a relief). Progress was slow, and by the time I got to the top of Aasgard I was totally sapped and took a nap in the sun (which always makes a body feel good). Two parties of climbers who had started with me and were now on their way back told me that the snow was soft the rest of the way (it was) so I skinned up to near the col and then booted the remainder to the top. To gain the col and the final ridge, you can use one of two snow/ice stairways to heaven: going up I took the right (N) one--and I don't recommend it. It's 100+ ft of very steep icy snow, under a huge cornice, and there is an awkward turn near the top where it gets nearly vertical (I know that snow ladders are basically safe but not having an ice axe or crampons I had to overrule my fear by convincing myself, from half-way up, that going back down to the alternate snow ladder would be worse; so I pushed on). On my way back I chose the southern ladder which is just about 30 ft in soft forgiving snow and you have to downclimb only the first 10 ft, then plunge stepping is OK. It was a gorgeous day for views but Dragontail and environs are well known so I won't clutter the site with photos. Upper Aasgard rewarded me with some great turns on still icy surface; the lower third had already softened to mush. I tried to avoid the 1.5 mi trail to Mountaineer Creek by skiing first S from the mouth of Colchuck Lake, then SW, and encountered nice soft snow and adequate clearings until I ran into junk at the bottom. The rest of the way home was on a familiar bobsleigh track of alternating mush, frozen junk and debris. Aasgard and Colchuck Col make a ski great tour if you don't mind the long approach (I hate this trail) and don't leave your ponnies and ice axe at home. N

[Dayhike Mike]

[wildernessed]

What happened to your partners Niko ? All this skiing stuff sounds too easy for you and to hard for me. God, I hope I'm able to get up there like we did last year right before permit time, get in and get out. Congrats, those are some great views, your an Iron man !

[RichP]

C'mon Niko. Post some pics. We watched you inch up from below.

[twodogdad]

Vox Populi, here we go:

Dragon1-twilight

Dragon2-AasgardAM

Dragon3-Cashmere

Dragon4-Cannon

Dragon4 has to be Cannon: I wonder why Druid Plato cannot be seen from this angle; according to the map, a portion of it ought to be visible.

Dragon5-EnchantmentPks-Temple

Dragon7-McClellan

Dragon8-LittleA

Little A is the gentle white thing left: what are the names of the seemingly higher crags right?

Dragon9-Argonaut

Dragon10-Stuart-Sherpa-Colchuck

Dragon11-SWcrest

Dragon12-finalridge

Dragon14-SnowladderRight

This is the way I went up: much steeper than it looks...

Dargon13-snowladderLeft

And this is the alternative. Wildy, yes, it took just a couple of minutes to ski down from Dragon Col to Colchuck Lake but hauling the skis up took a while. The beauty of skinning is that it's an extremely efficient mode of travel--when you can skin; otherwise you climb with a double load. I want to tour McClellan-Little A-Enchantments-Cannon, starting at Snow Lake TH, ending at Stuart TH, two cars.

[Dayhike Mike]

Thanks TDD!

[RichP]

See? Peer pressure really works

[wildernessed]

Let's see them pics Rich, your holding out !

[RichP]

I wish I had a camera good enough to have captured his image ascending to Aasgard.

[TrailPair]

well done!

[cartman]

Great trip and nice pics. I'm envious of you skiers.

[twodogdad]

[twodogdad]

[huron]

There were 3 or 4 large slides on Aasgard on Sunday afternoon. Were they there when you went up Saturday? Looked fresh.

[twodogdad]

I did see--vaguely--slide tracks Saturday evening, in the twilight, and they were there in the morning, rock solid ice; there were a couple of substantial ones on climber's left. I decided to stay left in order to minimize the potential effects of warming and rockfall from Dragon. N