Mt. Ouray (Devil's Armchair, east face)

Mt. Ouray (13958') on Saturday, 2022/4/30 via the Devil's Armchair couloir system on its east face. I car camped off of Marshall Pass road at Grays creek at N38.43152° W106.17106° at 9674'. There are a few additional spots along the road, above O'Haver lake (besides the campground at the lake). I set my alarm for 3:45 am to have breakfast and get going at 5:18. Even though i had read about Venus and Jupiter being in conjunction that morning it was a surprise to actually see it just before the start of dusk  - the two brightest planets next to each other made me wonder if the Russians were coming or something. 

 

 

I followed the trail along (mostly north side) of Grays creek. The first mile was discernable, more trail than snow. The drainage became a well-formed creek channel topography filled in with plenty of densified snow at N38.43135° W106.19707° at 10966' – making for a very skier friendly access along the 2nd half of the approach. I reached the basin near N38.42814° W106.20119° at 7:57 am. I then followed the drainage to the right, then arcing a little left and back before the very base of the couloir at N38.42536° W106.21616° at 12125'. It took longer to approach than I imagined, a 30-60 minute earlier start would be good on a warmer day. I put on crampons and got going up the couloir at 8:55. I followed a steeper line on the right of the Armchair, ascending to the left of a rock ridge (see green in climbing diagram). I did not gage the route other than here - angles were mid 40 degrees, but it seems like it might reach 50 at the steepest spot at the top (i was climbing piolet low-dagger then, with ice ax and ice tool each in one hand). There was not many rocks in the snow, suggesting the rock is pretty solid - not great danger on the east face.

 

There is an option to traverse at N38.42557° W106.21888° at 12579' to a line more in the middle of the mountain that exits further up near the peak (dark blue in diagram). With a good freeze including clear skies overnight, the snow was solid along the approach, but for some reason softened quickly in the lower section. So I opted to keep going straight, rather than take the extra time to transfer lines within the couloir system. Once halfway up, however, the snow was good to the exit.

 

 

There are a couple other lines left of the center that -might- be accessible on a bigger snow year (maybe including some ice climbing moves near the base). After topping out the lower steep section i veered modestly left to more closely approach the summit. I topped out at N38.42562° W106.22212° at 13397' (gain of 1272' on the couloir) at 11:35 am. It's a much lower angle finish to the summit at N38.42275° W106.22475° at 13958' (at 12:30 pm, gain of 4284' from the road). The view from the top is normally great - although I could barely see the Sand Dunes and the Blanca massif, but could not see to Latir peak in NM. I think smoke (early fires in NM and AZ) and dust blocked the view far south.

 

 

From the summit, i followed down the summer east ridge route to N38.41958° W106.20764° at 12575'. From the low point there, i descended mostly straight down to the basin, taking advantage of the mostly grassy slope immediately below the low point. The summer trail was not obvious, partly covered by snow. Once in the basin (at 3:30), it helps to proceed to N38.42628° W106.20248°.  From here it is possible to follow a clearing in the trees back to N38.42814° W106.20119° in order to retrace the approach route down Grays creek. (I actually followed another pseudo drainage from the basin and had to slowly bushwhack through the snow and tress to eventually join Grays creek for the last mile out).

 

 

I reached my truck at the trailhead at 5:08 pm. The snow was great through the day, the weather good (although a little windy at the top).