Page Type:
Date Climbed/Hiked:
Activities:
Season:
Comments
No comments posted yet.
Rocky Mountain National Park- Dead Elk Couloir
On April 21st we decided to head into RMNP and ski Dead Elk Couloir. I skied this line in March of 2009 and fell in love with the scenery.
The weather report called for an overnight low of 29 and a high of 48 for the day. It also said that the sky would be mostly cloudy with afternoon thunderstorm activity. From this info we thought we had a good chance for a decent freeze.
However once we entered the park and started getting near Bear Lake the temp was 35 degrees. Now the big worry was that are area didn’t freeze at all.
Prior to parking at Bear Lake we were harassed by some locals. They didn’t want us there. I haven’t been messed with like this since surfing in Santa Cruz back in the nineties. I was able to snap a shot of them before they railroaded us:
It was a misty/rainy morning. It was indeed overcast, but not completely sopped in. East of the divide was clear, so we kept positive thoughts as we neared Bear Lake.
Heading up into Tyndall Gorge
Skinning up. We left the car at 7am.
On the trail. I was able to snap a shot of Long’s when we hit a clearing:
It didn’t take us long to hit Dream Lake. It’s melted out on the left when you are facing west, but we felt there was enough ice to skin down the middle. We didn’t hear any cracking.
Once we hit Emerald Lake we immediately noticed a fairly large wet slide on the lower flanks of Dragon`s Tail. It looks like the rocks to the right of the couloir shedded snow into the line. Emerald lake was a little scarier to cross in the middle. It is deeper and we didn’t want to take chances. We went around it on the right.
Start the climb to Dead Elk Couoir
We transitioned to crampons here. Once we started booting up it was apparent that there wasn’t a solid overnight freeze. It was cloudy though so we knew we wouldn’t be in a race with the sun, so we decided to head up. We sank to our calves for the first few hundred feet, but once we were in the couloir the snow firmed up and the climbing was easy.
Dragons Tail Couloir is to the right of Dead Elk. It has a fairly large wet slide come down its lower flanks within the past week.
Kevin booting up
Almost to the entrance of Dead Elk....
Here is a look into Dead Elk. It too had slide debris, but mostly rollers from the adjacent cliffs.
We met a few guys at Emerald Lake that brought up the rear on the climb. Very good to meet them and ski the line with other folks.
Hallet Peak’s north face
The slog up…..
We put the skis on where snow the ends and the rocks take over. When I skied it last year we were able to get another 100 feet up.
The ski down
Kevin dropping in….He started in the mank for some silly reason. I didn’t whine, because he saved me some smooth snow on skier’s right! The coolest part of the day was the sun came out about 20 minutes before hitting the top. Everything completely softened up prior to dropping in.
Smiling for the camera mid way down the line.
Kevin skiing the lower apron.
Our descent line. Very fun line overall. Not incredibly steep, probably averages 35 degrees, but enough pitch and vert to make big GS turns down the whole thing.
One more shot on the way out
A shot of us both before heading down the trail.
A closer shot of Long’s west side from the trail leading out. One thing I forgot to mention is the trail is skinnable/skiable all the way from Bear Lake to Emerald Lake with just a few bare spots.
Great morning overall. It took 3 hours car to car.
Thanks for reading!