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Ellingwood South Couloir & SW Ridge...Traverse to Blanca
For those of you that like couloir climbs...put this one on your list. I knew I wanted to climb this line the first time I saw it filled with snow. And the bonus is that it leads to a really fun ridge scramble.
TH...Como Road
Distance...13 Miles
Elevation...5000'
Time...8 hours
This is dedicated to Darin Baker. Because I know he has nothing better to do in Shreveport, LA than lurk on 14ers.com...reading trip reports and starting fights. Have fun with the bugs and swamps brotha.
Pictures...
I was able to drive to 9700' on the road...about 1/2 mile from Jaws I. Road was pretty dry up to this point.
From where I started, it was a little more than 2 miles to the lake. I found the remnants of an old trench, but recent snow had pretty much filled it in. Here is Lake Como and Little Bear.
Once above the lake you get this view of Ellingwood. Up to this point I wasn't sure if I was going to take the standard ledge route up to the SW ridge or the couloir. I felt pretty good about the snow conditions and once I saw this, I was sold.
My best guess at my route to and up the couloir
Looking up the couloir. This about where I switched to spikes and axe. There were a few short sections where it was pretty firm and I would have been better off in crampons. But for the most part I felt comfortable with what I had.
I would guess the couloir is about 1000' high...it tops out on the ridge right around 13,500'.
Scramble from the top of the snow to the southwest ridge
Looking back at the ridge...you can see the couloir under the cliffs
What makes this happen...wetter snow and wind? Whatever it is, I love looking at it. It's like rock icing. And I love me some icing.
Here's what's left of the southwest ridge from near the top of the couloir...not too difficult scrambling on a beautiful ridge with some exposure and killer views in every direction.
Summit of Ellingwood Point
Blanca (left) and Little Bear (right)
Well I made it this far, might as well climb Blanca while I'm here. The traverse to Blanca was uneventful and I was on the summit of Blanca in about an hour.
My friend...the Blanca, Little Bear Traverse
Looking back at Ellingwood Point and some 13ers to the North
Following my tracks back to Lake Como
Lake Como
I always forget how much worse the road is on the way down. I bottomed out so hard one time that I had to stop to see if there was a hole in something. This picture is taken from the lower section of Como Road...looking south at Culebra, my goal for tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone in the Saturday group who broke all that trail. It was much appreciated. Here's a shot of your work.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Nice work, Mike! I was up there on Thurs and was drooling at that couloir wondering how steep it was! I think we were following your tracks on the left side of the drainage. What would you estimate the slope angle gets to in the couloir?
Wow, Mad Mike, that is some sick winter climbin'! I love your pic of Ellingwood on the ridge (#10), just beautiful. You're a beast. I can't imagine how cool it was to look at that LB-Blanca ridge after having done it in winter already!
Awesome, thank you for the report. We are planning on coming out to do Ellingwood and Blanca and these really help us plan without having been there. Two questions:
Were you above or below ”the sign” on como rd that points to blanca peak?
What is the orange thing around your neck in the 6th picture?
Sorry we keep missing each other. Those were my tracks...probably further left than I needed to be, but didn't want to be down in those trees. I would put it at 40 - 45...pushing 50 near the top.
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