Drift SE couloir question

[IHikeLikeAGirl]

May attempt Fletcher and Drift this weekend. I saw this gully pic from the SP route description:

From SP route description

Drift SE Gully.jpg (191.87 KiB) Viewed 1608 times

And this one in Kevin Baker's TR:

From Kevin Baker's TR

Drift E Couloir.jpg (125.79 KiB) Viewed 1611 times

These 2 couloirs/gullies don't look to be the same, unless I'm missing something? Where is the SP route gully from pic 1 in this pic (note: the line drawn is Kevin Baker's route)?

From Kevin Baker's TR

Drift.jpg (61.68 KiB) Viewed 1610 times

Which gully is better?

Also, I don't think there's enough snow up there for crampons is there? Still taking the axe, just in case.

[mtgirl]

Just another option for you in that general area......have you done the Father Dyer/Crystal/Peak 10 loop ? If not, the ridge on Father Dyer is class 3 and fun (I was wishing it was a bit longer). Very enjoyable loop with great scenery. Forum member Derek has a great trip report on the loop. No loose gullies to worry about - and some good bailout options between Crystal and Peak 10 if the weather takes a turn for the worse.

[Matt]

Just another option for you in that general area......have you done the Father Dyer/Crystal/Peak 10 loop ? If not, the ridge on Father Dyer is class 3 and fun (I was wishing it was a bit longer). Very enjoyable loop with great scenery. Forum member Derek has a great trip report on the loop. No loose gullies to worry about - and some good bailout options between Crystal and Peak 10 if the weather takes a turn for the worse.

+1

We did this last weekend (in spite of a 70% chance of t-storms) and it's a blast!
It's also pretty weather-safe if you do the ridge to Father Dyer first, as there are multiple bailouts between FD/Crystal and Crystal/Peak 10.
The ridge in question is the one on the left side of FD from this angle:

IMG_5740.jpg (42.01 KiB) Viewed 1587 times

If you decide to do it and have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Agreed, mtgirl, that if the ridge were longer, it'd be even better.
We were actually going to loop around the basin the other way by hitting Crystal, then returning for a ridge scramble bonzana on the long ridge to Mt. Helen, which I hear is "classic," but didn't want to risk getting stuck there in a storm. That ridge looks committing.

[mtgirl]

Agreed, mtgirl, that if the ridge were longer, it'd be even better.
We were actually going to loop around the basin the other way by hitting Crystal, then returning for a ridge scramble bonzana on the long ridge to Mt. Helen, which I hear is "classic," but didn't want to risk getting stuck there in a storm. That ridge looks committing.

I was just up there two weeks ago. Best part was, I only saw one other person on the whole loop, on a Saturday ! Have you done the east ridge on Pacific - that looks inviting !

[Neil]

Maybe the SP photo shows the upper-right arm of Kevin Baker's gully? Either way, the point is somewhat moot. I would highly recommend taking Kevin Baker's gully. Last summer, a friend and I tried to ascend the next gully to the right of Kevin Baker's line. Not a fun undertaking, especially with the bullet-proof ice that lingers in this much more inset couloir. Kevin's is much more manageable and ends up on a good ridge (even though you can't tell from below).

Neil

[IHikeLikeAGirl]

Just another option for you in that general area......have you done the Father Dyer/Crystal/Peak 10 loop ? If not, the ridge on Father Dyer is class 3 and fun (I was wishing it was a bit longer). Very enjoyable loop with great scenery. Forum member Derek has a great trip report on the loop. No loose gullies to worry about - and some good bailout options between Crystal and Peak 10 if the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes we did Mt Helen through Peak 9 with pak about a month ago. Didn't ascended the ridge you're talking about, but the ridge traverse between Mt Helen and Father Dyer was quite exciting too! :D

We were actually going to loop around the basin the other way by hitting Crystal, then returning for a ridge scramble bonzana on the long ridge to Mt. Helen, which I hear is "classic," but didn't want to risk getting stuck there in a storm. That ridge looks committing.

You're right, very committing. Definitely wouldn't want to be stuck on that ridge in the middle of storm or with wet rock. We did Helen to Dyer first so, we'd have the bailout options later in the day.

Maybe the SP photo shows the upper-right arm of Kevin Baker's gully? Either way, the point is somewhat moot. I would highly recommend taking Kevin Baker's gully. Last summer, a friend and I tried to ascend the next gully to the right of Kevin Baker's line. Not a fun undertaking, especially with the bullet-proof ice that lingers in this much more inset couloir. Kevin's is much more manageable and ends up on a good ridge (even though you can't tell from below).

Thanks!

[BillMiddlebrook]

The line drawn in that photo is the correct one. Done that route several times now but used that particular gully only once.

Last month we did the traverse by hiking (easy) up to the saddle from the flats just south of the Fletcher summit. Traversed the Class 3 line to Drift and, on the way back to Fletcher, we climbed down into the deep notch and climbed some Class 4+ rock on the Fletcher side of the notch. We did it for the fun, but it's not necessary. It's a fun traverse and hope to have the route description on 13ers.com soon.

This exciting "shortcut" (when going from Drift to Fletcher) isn't necessary, but it's exciting!

[Trudger]

I was looking at the same Fletcher-Drift trip this weekend. Roach's book says the following about the East Couloir - "hike 0.8 mile north-northwest to a tiny lake at 12,800 feet. You can see the couloir from here." I may start with Drift just to make locating it easy. The rock face to the right of Kevin's route line looks like a molar tooth, to me, and his photo with the route drawn on says it's taken from the "head of Monte Cristo Creek", which is the tiny lake Roach refers to according to my map.

From my map below, I think the arrow is pointing to the rock face that looks like a molar, and the black line shows the line of sight that reveals the East Couloir and it's right hand turn around the back of "Molar Rock".



Would anyone be concerned with taking a dog up that trashy rock in the couloir, particularly their feet? He's a 3-year-old Australian Shepherd. Rockiest trail he's seen so far is the main route of Quandary. He's hates boots. And being left at home. I'm new to dragging dogs around on these trips.

[BillMiddlebrook]

And here's a photo showing the gully in question in your initial post. Once at the top of that gully, there's one large bump between that notch and the summit of Drift. So, if you're going the other way (Fletcher to Drift and down), you need to descend Drift to the first major notch, go over another large bump and then descend left from the next major notch and down that loose gully. When I descended Drift with comin2getcha and USAKeller a few years back, we descended the "Valentine (see the heart?) Couloir" below the first/upper notch, below Drift's summit. Exciting and stiff Class 4. I love a challenge!

[Neil]

Bill -- you descended that couloir? Nice job. We had a heck of time ascending last summer, but it was a little early and the hard snow and ice was prolific still. You're right, stiff Class 4 for sure, but has the potential for a good mixed climb at the right time of year.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Bill -- you descended that couloir? Nice job. We had a heck of time ascending last summer, but it was a little early and the hard snow and ice was prolific still. You're right, stiff Class 4 for sure, but has the potential for a good mixed climb at the right time of year.

Yup, we didn't have any snow, but it was a bit damp due to earlier fog. Tedious, but doable. I have some good shots of USAKeller scowling at me on some of those exposed portions. Great stuff.

[bergsteigen]

AWESOME!