Fletcher mountain (East face)

Fletcher mountain (East face)

Climb of the East face of Fletcher mountain on 2022/5/14, based on Dave Cooper's ‘Colorado Snow Climbs’ book.

I woke at 2 am to leave home at 2:15. I was one of the first to arrive that morning at the Quandary lot at N39.38284° W106.06269° at 10806' at 3:49. I packed my gear to get going at 4:19 as some of the 14ers groups were starting to arrive at the lot. On McCullough Gulch road, take a left at N39.39851 W106.06925 to follow the road to the McCullough trailhead - that fork was confusing and not well described in Cooper's book. The gate is at N39.39969° W106.07417° at 11090' – I bet Google maps can identify and help with the approach to at least this far in the approach. At the end of the road, i followed the trail as best i could, but ended up bushwacking more to the right (north) of the drainage than last time (where instead we went more left to get to the base of the Quandary north couloir). I put on snowshoes at N39.40168° W106.08215° at 11294' and found flotation useful all the way to Fletcher. I reached Quandary north couloir at N39.40544° W106.09735° at 11962' at 6:58.

Quandary north is only about 2/3 of the approach to Fletcher - it continues for a while. I followed the drainage north and to the right of the lake and then the gulley turns back to the left. There is a more direct approach if you know the waypoint for the base of couloir, however the route i followed was completely on snow, which made for good speed even if the route is a little longer.

I got to the base of Flecther at about 8:30 to put on crampons and gear up to get going at 8:49. While he gives no climbing diagram, Cooper describes two couloir routes in his book, and i could see a third. The morning heated very quickly, so I was happy to find few rocks in the couloir (the surroundings are pretty stable). I took the left route (green on my climbing diagram) which seems to be the same as Cooper's left route. The angles through the sections were 28, 30, 43, and 46 degrees. There was a cornice (although not overhanging) as described in the book, where the last 30 feet of travel was quite steep, approaching vertical.

I topped out at N39.40279° W106.12803° at 13791' at 11:15. Following my steps, two skiers from Minnesota (Welsch Village sticker on helmet) gained the couloir shortly after me. Fletcher summit at N39.40319° W106.12882° at 13940' is a short ascent on the ridge. The middle route (blue) joins the ridge at N39.40319° W106.12882° at 13880'. The angles seem comparable, but without the steep ending at a cornice. The right route (purple) joins the summit from the other side. The third route seems a little lower angle, but looks likely to melt out first.

I arrived at the summit at 11:50 and took pictures to get going at 12:08 pm. I saw one of the skiers at the couloir base while descending the ridge. I noticed they had side-stepped the steep top section rather than jumping in... it is steep! I descended to Blue lakes/Cristo reservoir south of Quandary as in Cooper's book. I reached the base of Cristo at N39.38697° W106.10148° at 11782' at 2:56. It was slow going sometimes wading or post-holing in waist deep snow in the sparse but present drifts above the valley. Once on the road below the dam, it goes fast and i was back at the lot at 3:43 pm.

Start: 28.3 lbs (pack, snowshoes, camera).End: 28.2 lbs (including some of the layers i started out wearing).

Link to album of photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/19047247@N04/albums/72177720299041468