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Peak: Uncompahgre Date: May 4, 2016 Trailhead: 1/4 mile above Nellie Creek 2WD TH (~9,600 ft) Route: South ridge to Nellie Creek Distance: ~14 miles Elevation Gain: ~5,200 ft Vertical skied: ~4,000 ft Participants: Scott Edlin and Natalie Moran
Time: ~ just over 10 hours
Uncompahgre, while not a difficult peak to ski, seems to be hard to come by in skiable conditions. The mountain below 13k almost always has good coverage, but snow above the 13,500 ft rarely sticks around, probably due to winds. Judging from a recent conditions report from Bill Middlebrook, we deemed the peak to be "in condition". We waited for another spring storm to give it a fresh coat of white paint, and I was able to preview the conditions the day before from Slumgullion pass. Upper reaches of Uncompaghre looked as white as ever.
Scott and I met in Lake City and caravaned to Nellie Creek TH. We were able to drive just about another 1/4 mile up the road, before some small snow drifts and lack of 4x4 stopped us. In a capable vehicle, we would have likely been able to make 2 miles further up the road. We settled for the night with a 2 am wakeup call (ughh!). By 3.08am we were hiking up the road, and started skinning a couple miles later. We reached the upper 4WD TH as the sky started to brighten, and managed to catch an alpenglow on the peak.
Sunrise
Coverage in the basin looked amazing, but the main question on my mind was how everything looked above 13,500. For now, we pressed on, trying to meet our goal of a summit by 10 am. After a short delayering break at the Notch, we were able to skin up all the way to the base of the chimney. While at the Notch, we noticed 2 climbers approaching from Matterhorn creek side, who later turned out to be freeinthehills and joelpaula.
In the basin
Scott is approaching the Notch
Scott skinning towards the gully on the summer route
Stopping to put skis on the packs
We utilized a booter installed by a party of 2 the day prior, which was still frozen solid on the western aspect.
Scott climbing the gully section
Good coverage, but plenty of wet slide debris on Wetterhorn due to warm temperatures in the day prior
Scott tops out on the ridge
From there, it was a simple walk to the summit. We reached it 15 minutes past our 10 am estimate, and settled for a 45 minutes refueling break. We were hoping it would give the ice on the western face a little time to unfreeze.
Scott approaches the summit - plenty of coverage
14er ski #29
Summit views
For the descent, we took a hard left, bypassing all the rocky sections in the middle of the summit plateau and circled back to the standard route. We had to slow down in a rockier section, but the snow was continuous. We carefully skied to the top of the gully, where we were expecting some difficulties.
Scott starts the descent
I slide down the gully on frozen crust - mmmmm!
Scott descending the gully
With the bootpack in the middle of the gully, bookended by the rocks, not the whole length of the skis was touching the snow. Scott had more trouble with this section as his skis were longer than mine and he also punched through a few times. I managed one jump turn as the gully widened, unexpectedly bumping into Nate and Joel who were putting on crampons. After short introductions, they headed up for the summit, while Scott and I were eagerly anticipating the change of aspect and skiing the corn on the south ridge. The corn was ripe, and angle fairly mellow, so we were able to open up the turns and the descent was quick.
Scott
Scott
Natalie
Natalie
Skiing out of the basin
After starting the descent at about 11 am, we reached the car around 1.30pm, which included 2 miles of dry road hiking in ski boots. Not a bad day in the hills!
Thanks all - relieved to get this one in good skiable condition, even though the gully was still frozen.
Otina - so true. Scott was still talking about it - so completely out of character for him. Biggest vert day of the year for him and the longest drive, haha!
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