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A small TR from RMNP re: Notchtop Coulior
Sat. 4/21/12 we descended Notchtop Coulior. It was in excellent shape top to bottom. There was still some storm snow/wind slab from earlier in the week found in the mid and upper parts of the coulior ( anywhere from boot top to just below the knees), but the surface snow only sluffed off and never broke apart in cohesive slabs that would have been a danger. The cornices at the top of the coulior are still present, but minimal. I was able to begin my descent from the top.
We found for the most part soft snow conditions during our ascent up the coulior. Only on small sections did my crampons get a good bite into firmer snow. For the most part crampons were more of a hassle, because much snow balling and accumulation occurred on the ascent.
We started from Bear Lake 6:10 and we topped out at 10:30, and started our descent around 11. The snow was still in very good shape, even though we were a bit late. We were booting from Bear Lake to just shortly after the first trail junction. Finding skinable snow conditions at 9900 ft.
Considering the terrible year we’ve had, Notchtop Coulior was in fantastic shape.
Went to Radiobeacon Mountain on Saturday, May 5, 2012.
The East facing slopes were in excellent condition from the summit to the lake. We choose to ski two steeper north facing slopes about a third of the way down the east facing slope. Our descent was in excellent shape. The weather gave us perfect corn. We ended up skiing two and a half laps. We were on the summit at 0940, and made our last lap at 1:20pm.
The more technical NE coulior was difficult to visualize from our vantage. We could see some potentially dangerous cornices lurking over the starts of this coulior and other potential descents. Nothing appear to be avalanched out, but some wet slide activity had deposited some debris in the narrow portions of this descent and other steeper descents on similar aspects of Radiobeacon. One natural wet slab avalanche had run in the start zone of the second bowl of Forest Lakes Bowls.
We were able to drive up the Rollins Pass Road – East to just a few hundred feet short of the parking elevation 10457′ detailed in Hadda and Faughey’s “Front Range Descents”. We were stopped by a still frozen rock hard drift of snow that only partially covered the road, which could have down some damage to the vehicle had we driven over it. After talking with some folks in the afternoon, the road isn’t passable much father than this point, even when the snow drifts have softened.
We met at the East Portal at 5 am. I believe we departed from the parking Rollins Pass Road at 6 or 6:30. The Rollins Pass Road is a slow bumpy ride. A high clearance vehicle is recommended.
cometogether…. Sorry I couldn’t invite you along on this trip. I led a large group of skiers that were affiliated with a front range hiking/climbing organization.
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