Spring Couloirs

The couloir on the south side of Crypt Lake

With the warm temps over the last few weeks, people may be getting the itch to put their ice tools to use. While the north facing climbs still seem to be in excellent shape, don't count on anything south facing being in. With that said, there are a number of spring couloirs that may start to look more promising right now.

The prominent col on Spread Eagle peak arround Mt. Yarrow has had many a climber's eye.

The numerous snow col's facing the road on the Chief Mtn. highway some into shape during heavy snow years (problably not this year). They are all pretty similar in difficulty. The main challenge is the bottle neck through the rock band.

The prominent gully on the north side of Buchannon ridge is pretty nice. The bottle neck is much narrower than it looks. However, the angle is pretty low. Just watch out for the large amount of terrain that funnels into it.

The col' on the south side of Crypt lake is also another good one when the trail opens.

Iceberg notch is another popular gully. There are quite a few old pins in on this route. Some of the bulges get quite overhung late in the summer. Of course there is a 3rd class scramble just off the face to the right! The steep rock on the left has always had me eyeing my rock shoes.

So what else is there?