If you head straight towards the large chimney above the couloir, this is the 5.5-5.6 variation, which requires climbing a short section of thin parallel cracks. To climb the class 4 variation, descend the south side of the saddle a short ways and find your way up slabs to the left.
Descent:
As we were concerned about finding our way down the rapps, we found another descent route (albeit a little longer) to get back to camp if you're camped at the base of the North Couloir.
Descend the SE slopes of Mt Gilbert to pass 12,400' and descend the couloir. When we did this, it was filled with hard neve, but there were several nice rapp stations to use (the first is about 30 ft down from the top).
From there, cut across the bowl staying fairly high. You want to cut around the ridge on a lightly forested slope between a set of cliffs at 11,600'. This puts you back in the correct drainage to reach camp with minimal elevation loss.
PellucidWombat - Dec 24, 2005 4:14 pm - Hasn't voted
Route CommentRock Pitch:
If you head straight towards the large chimney above the couloir, this is the 5.5-5.6 variation, which requires climbing a short section of thin parallel cracks. To climb the class 4 variation, descend the south side of the saddle a short ways and find your way up slabs to the left.
Descent:
As we were concerned about finding our way down the rapps, we found another descent route (albeit a little longer) to get back to camp if you're camped at the base of the North Couloir.
Descend the SE slopes of Mt Gilbert to pass 12,400' and descend the couloir. When we did this, it was filled with hard neve, but there were several nice rapp stations to use (the first is about 30 ft down from the top).
From there, cut across the bowl staying fairly high. You want to cut around the ridge on a lightly forested slope between a set of cliffs at 11,600'. This puts you back in the correct drainage to reach camp with minimal elevation loss.
Craig Peer - Dec 27, 2005 1:07 pm - Hasn't voted
Route CommentThanks for the additional information.