Has anybody climbed or attempted the NF of Granite Mt in winter? If so, I would love to hear the details; length of approach in winter, how many days, best month in winter for avy concerns/good ice conditions/stable weather, WI, YDS, M, and commitment grades, etc.

TIA,

EB

Is this one of those Montana deals where everyone in the know is sworn to secrecy?

ExcitableBoy wrote:Is this one of those Montana deals where everyone in the know is sworn to secrecy?

Prolly. But since you called it Granite Mountain instead of Granite Peak, maybe they think your question is about Granite Mountain? ...
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=5033156

chugach mtn boy wrote:

ExcitableBoy wrote:Is this one of those Montana deals where everyone in the know is sworn to secrecy?

Prolly. But since you called it Granite Mountain instead of Granite Peak, maybe they think your question is about Granite Mountain? ...
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=5033156

Thanks for pointing that out, probably an important distinction giving the number of summits named Granite __

The NF of Granite in summer would seem to be a weighty challenge unto itself, any reason why you're interested in a winter attempt? Most winter attempts of Granite I've seen are either the standard SE ridge route or the SW couloir...and successes are few and far between.

Hans Saari did ski the N couloir though, believe it was a day trip if I remember Turiano's account correctly. Don't know if they summitted. I don't have any other info, but if folks are sworn to secrecy, I guess that's why.

peakhugger wrote:The NF of Granite in summer would seem to be a weighty challenge unto itself, any reason why you're interested in a winter attempt? Most winter attempts of Granite I've seen are either the standard SE ridge route or the SW couloir...and successes are few and far between.

Thanks for the tips. As for why in winter, I simply love winter alpine climbing. To my eye the large, central couloir looks like it would ice well. At the risk of sounding very stupid, why does Granite Peak get climbed so infrequently in winter? The north face reminds me of the north face of Dragontail Peak in the Cascades which is a very popular winter objective. Is it just very conditional or is there a brutal approach?

Does anybody know if the line in red forms ice in winter and if so has it been attempted or climbed?

EB just gave me a stupid idea

over and out

V,

I'm full of stupid ideas.