[Don]

Having already cancelled once on our quest for Colchuck due to weather/avy concerns, it remained high on our list. This was the weekend. We now also were entertaining including Dragontail in our adventure. My good climbing buddy Dale and I met up with the Silence team at the Colchuck TH at 9:00 Saturday morning and began our trek up to the lake under sunny skies. There were numerous small trees down along the trail that needed to be climbed over or crawled under. Also, we were amazed at the volume of water crashing down the rivers and creeks!

Don at creek crossing

The trail was mostly bare all the way to the lake, with probably 50% snow cover around the lake.

Don & Colchuck

Aasgard Pass

Dale and I shot ahead to claim the only melted out campsite at the end of the lake below the moraine (there were numerous melted out sites at the beginning of the lake).

Colchuck Lake 2

Clouds were in and out all afternoon - mostly in. We enjoyed a fun evening and spoke excitedly of the next morning's climb. Uh oh, was that a drop? Yes, I believe so. Yep, another one. It began to sprinkle and we all retired to our tents. It rained on and off most of the night. We poked our heads out of the tent at 5:00 am and were discouraged to find the summit of Dragontail completely hidden in clouds. Even the top of Aasgard Pass was obscured. The clouds were dark. We knew the forecast was for showers thru 11:00 am. We fired up the stoves and drank coffee while watching one party ascend up to the moraine, and another begin their ascent to Aasgard Pass. The sky just looked like it was waiting to dump heavily. The clouds were dropping lower. As we stood around restless, Dale and I noticed the sky beginning to lighten up. We decided to go up and "poke around a bit". The Silence team didn't want to join us, but announced they were going to go do some investigating on their own.

Don on moraine

Colchuck Lake

I left camp at 7:00 with Dale shortly behind me, and arrived at Colchuck Col at 8:45! Visibility was limited. In fact, it was less than 40 feet for most of the Colchuck Glacier. Clouds completely hid Dragontail, while I could see a short way up the rib of Colchuck. Soon Dale arrived.

Dale nears col

Dale at Colchuck Col

As we began our ascent up the rib, the party ahead of descended down. They warned us of extremely soft snow ahead. The summit had been mostly socked in, but the clouds did part to reveal views a couple of times. We thanked them for the excellent steps they put in and continued up. We arrived at the summit 45 minutes from the col.

Dale nears summit

Dale reaches summit block

Dale walks summit ledge

Dale reaches summit!

Dale & Don on Colchuck

We couldn't see a thing! We waited and waited for just a glimpse of neighboring peaks, but it didn't seem like it was to be. Just as we began to pack up, it happened! The clouds parted and Mount Rainier appeared with blue sky above! Below, a sea of clouds covered everything between us and Rainier. At one point we got a glimpse of Argonaut, but it was pretty short lived. At least we got some views! This made us pretty giddy!

Goofy on the summit ledge

We made it back down to the col in about 20 minutes, then glissaded the entire way back down to the lake - 2,400', in just 10 minutes, for a total descent time of just 30 minutes! We packed up camp and met up with Silence down the trail. Then it was off to Gustav's for food, drink and laughter. A good time. Finally, a big thanks to Dale for his contribution of images!

[naturealbeing]

Looks like you guys made the best with what Mother Nature dealt you. Our trip of last year with the same ambition turned out about the same. Coasty, SteveF, and I went up there 6.7.07 and tried DT before we got turned back. We then tagged Colchuck before heading out. You can read the TR here if you're interested. Cheers! Richard

[wildernessed]

That is a nice trip, the glissade is a good one. I also made excellent time down last year. We just haven't got many consecutive days of good mountain weather this year.

[Slide Alder Slayer]

That is some serious water flowing under the bridge in Mountaineer Creek. Excellent pictures and trail report, it’s always nice when the clouds part.

[silence]

well .. really wish we had something to brag about too -- way to go but, there's always a next time as the peak's not going anywhere and we do sooo love a view -- the poor guys on aasgard came back empty-handed too as they were in total soup .. but, they had the same idea anyway, only thing to add is it was very beautiful at the lake with the melting snow, afternoon clouds, reflections and evening light -- and dragontail living up to its name .. sorry, no stills as i left my hefty digital home for the climb, but robert got some awesome video .. thanks guys -- enjoyed sharing all the evening bs with ya

[Don]

Richard - thanks for sharing the TR! Yeah, we really wanted to try Dragontail, but you can't climb what you can't see. It was just a solid wall of gray that direction. Wildernessed - that glissade was excellent! Dale shot video all the way down with his boots in the picture. It was pretty cool - kinda reminded me of that Eiger paragliding video. Hey, I said kinda! Slide Alder - The streams were impressive in volume. Silence made mention of the Wenatchee upon our arrival, which we had failed to notice (we did check it out on the way home). We did stop at the road crossing of Mountaineers Creek further on down - wow! Silence - you'll get it done! There was nothing technical about it, just one foot in front of the other. From the col up, it is a short walk up a rib, then a traversing hike over snow, dirt and rock slopes (this time of year). Hope you got some good video!

[kyle d]

Nice trip report. We may have met you Sunday. We were the couple dressed mostly in black, with red and green backpacks, respectively. We sat on the summit for more than an hour, and didn't get much at all in the way of views, but as we approached the col on the way down we got some clearing.

Part of Cashmere peeks through on the way up

Summit non-views

Dragontail, note the two climbers in the center

Dragontail

[silence]

whoa ... these are awesome photos kyled ... were you the ones who roped up on the moraine for trainin?? we talked about 2-person teams? if so, neat!! the climbers on dragontail .. very cool

[raz2sea]

Those pics are gorgeous!!

[Matt]

Nice job gettting up Colchuck, despite the weather.

[GeoTom]

Very nice Don. My friend Scott and I were thinking about heading up Colchuck this weekend, without the dogs of course.

[Don]

[Mark Griffith]

Great report! Love the pics up on Colchuck, surprised to hear how melted out Colchuck is given how much snow is up at Soqualmie still! Glad you got some views up there. Its always amazing to me how fast the descent is compared to the climb.

[DL's Partner]

Don, nice pictures of your trip! Thanks for sharing! Did you happen to get any information on the snow/blow down conditions on the trail to Lake Stuart while you were in the area?

[Don]