Quandary? 4/11

[It Escapes Me]

I know you guys don't care much for the Quandary ?'s but I couldn't find any recent reports and well I'm a newbie, so I will go ahead and apologize now.

Anybody been up there recently? What are the snow conditions as far as travel and safety? I'm looking for something to do Sunday 4/11 and would like to try out these new snowshoes before the snow melts. Saturday is going to be a busy day and late night so I am hoping to find something that doesn't require an early (6am) start. I would like to be on trail about 7:30ish though. If someone has plans to be out there and is willing to show an old man the ropes I like to join in. I am not committed to Q if someone has a different idea that will be OK for a beginner.



Thanks for the help
Curtis

[benners]

Because of it's popularity Quandary will almost certainly have a packed down track in place that will lead you through the woods and onto the East Ridge. You'll probably want snowshoes regardless of whether or not you need them for flotation, at the very least they'll be useful for traction through the trees as well as on the ridge. The upper portion of the ridge will be wind-blown and likely a talus slope. As long as you avoid the lower East Bowl and stay on the ridge you shouldn't encounter avalanche terrain. Hope this helps!

[tharlow]

How about skiing it this time of year?

[BillMiddlebrook]

Plenty of people ski it this time of year. Currently, there are some wind-scoured sections along the upper ridge (above 13k) but there's plenty of snow to ski top to bottom. Check out the trip reports for many ski descents of Quandary.

There's also the South (Cristo) Gully route, but I wouldn't touch it right now.

[mntnE]

Would you not touch the South Cristo Couloir route because of potential Avy danger or some other reason?

I am going to be attempting Quandary in the next day or two and had considered hiking in on the road and then attempting the Cristo Couloir route, but was unsure of potential Avy conditions in that Couloir.

I know that the East Ridge is windblown and safe from Avy's, so I will probably just stick with that.

[Fiemus]

I am going to be attempting Quandary in the next day or two and had considered hiking in on the road and then attempting the Cristo Couloir route, but was unsure of potential Avy conditions in that Couloir.

I assume you've researched this link: http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub_bc_avo.php?zone_id=2 ? That wouldn't inspire me to go up Cristo without some strong local evidence of stability (I'm up in Alaska at the moment rather than in Summit so I'm not sure what has been happening over on Quandary in the past few weeks).

I know that the East Ridge is windblown and safe from Avy's, so I will probably just stick with that.

Sounds sensible to me.

[mntnE]

I assume you've researched this link: http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub_bc_avo.php?zone_id=2 ?

Whoops, I actually failed to check there... Thank you for the link.
Yeah that looks like avy danger is considerable. I will deff stay away from anything other than the East ridge.
Thanks.

[tharlow]

Thanks for the info, always great to learn from other members on this site

[mntnE]

It totally kicked my ass, since I've been living @ 2000 ft, and not climbing above 12k for the past year or two...but yesterday 4-8 I successfully summited Quandary. I had attempted the peak twice in past years failing to reach the summit each time.

I took the standard East ridge route, and it is recommended anybody attempting it to bring snowshoes...unless you enjoy postholing.

It was sunny all day, but as was predicted the wind chill above 14k was well below zero when the wind was blowing.

Here's a pic I took from the summit before my fingers were numb:

[EZSide]

We were there Thursday as well. We are from Wisconsin. This was our first outing outside of the midwest in winter. We didn't gain the saddle ridge, turned at 12,600 - just in boots. We opted to not take our frame snowshoes w/cleats (improvised eq. might be worse than none) - and did OK in boots - though I think we were wise to not let the snow get any warmer for our return esp. at treeline. We had one and then a group of three skiiers pass us. Someone passed us on their way down, and a guy from Arizona was ahead of us.

The weather was fantastic, we learned alot and had a GREAT time with no regrets. Hope to have the chance to get back sometime.

Bill

[Cara Benson]

Anybody go up today (Sun) or Sat via the East (Standard) Route? Any avy danger?