Pikes Coulior Conditions

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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KyleS
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Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by KyleS »

We're interested in climbing Pikes Peak via either the Railroad or Y couliors. Any conditions updates would be appreciated. Thanks!
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EatinHardtack
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Re: Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by EatinHardtack »

As of Thursday (3/21)....

Railroad looks very very dry and boney. Wouldn't think to even give it a shot unless Pikes gets 10+ ft of snow soon.

Y looks better but it looks as though there isn't enough snow for full coverage for the entire length of the couloir. I would expect mixed conditions, but we could get some more snow and fill em in.

Little Italy is in. Nice coverage from top to bottom, although I couldn't see the bottom run out from where I was at.

The couloir lookers left of Little Italy ( I can't think of the name right now) is boney but potentially climable.


Now with all that said......
I would not attempt any of these at the current moment. Still a very wintery snowpack right now. These usually come into their best conditions in May timeframe.
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Re: Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by moneymike »

EatinHardtack wrote:As of Thursday (3/21)....

Railroad looks very very dry and boney. Wouldn't think to even give it a shot unless Pikes gets 10+ ft of snow soon.

Y looks better but it looks as though there isn't enough snow for full coverage for the entire length of the couloir. I would expect mixed conditions, but we could get some more snow and fill em in.

Little Italy is in. Nice coverage from top to bottom, although I couldn't see the bottom run out from where I was at.

The couloir lookers left of Little Italy ( I can't think of the name right now) is boney but potentially climable.


Now with all that said......
I would not attempt any of these at the current moment. Still a very wintery snowpack right now. These usually come into their best conditions in May timeframe.
I've been calling that line the chimney (couloir to lookers left of little italy).

I agree with eatinhardtack's comments. The north face is surprisingly dry. However, there are a couple east facing snow climbs/skis that don't lead to the summit but are holding better snow, and may be somewhat stable. I'm thinking of the wall, the ribbon, and a south facing couloir in between these two (I've been calling it the dinosaur couloir).
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." -Henry Ford

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KyleS
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Re: Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by KyleS »

Thanks for the info, guys.
How much snow fell up there this weekend? I'll be interested to see if coverage improved at all...
And yeah, obviously we'll wait until avalanche danger subsides before we try anything.

I'm not familiar with any of the routes that either of you mentioned...
From Barr Camp, it looks like there's a trail over to the Devil's Playground. That's where Little Italy is, right? Any idea how much mileage that'll add?
How about the approach to those Eastern routes mentioned? Would it be easy to get there from Barr Camp? After topping out, what is the terrain like to the true summit? Is it even feasible to summit from those routes?
Is there somewhere to get beta on these routes or do you have to be part of some secret COS society? :P

Ideally, this closed low moving in next week will create some heinous upslope that drops the 10ft we need. I've already written off a ski descent of Lindsey's North Coulior after reading the most recent trip report.
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Re: Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by CO Native »

Little Italy (yellow route on the right of the photo) is generally not used as a route to the summit, rather it's just a fun couloir to climb/ski. It starts from Glen Cove.
The north side of Pikes Peak labeled. (The Flying W Couloirs are sometimes called the Three Little Pigs too.)

Image

More detailed of the north face:

Image
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Re: Pikes Coulior Conditions

Post by KyleS »

Thanks for the photo.

I'm still interested in current conditions (after the most recent storm, and after any upcoming storms). Or we could just move this over to the Coulior 2013 thread...
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