Colchuck Peak - North Buttress Couloir

After a short night sleep, I left North Bend on Thursday at midnight. The drive to Leavenworth was made slightly more interesting by a suicidal Deer that decided to T-Bone my truck on Highway 97 outside of Leavenworth, WA. Yep, you read that correctly, he hit me costing him his life and causing considerable damage to the driver's door of my truck.


The NBC is just to the right of the summit pyramid.




I met Zach at the trailhead and after finishing off some Large (24 oz) cans of Rockstar Energy drinks we headed out with only our headlamps to guide us through the snow covered forest. Somewhere around 4:30am we missed a trail cut off in the forest and spent a half-hour trying to find the bridge across the stream. After climbing through sunrise and up above the valley below we reached the frozen Colchuck Lake and climbed up the moraine towards the base of the North Buttress Couloir.

Although we got to the base of the couloir early in the morning, it had already had sunshine on it for quite a while. The snow conditions were good but the warming effect was softening the snow and beginning to release debris from above which we had to dodge every few minutes.

These pictures of Zach were taken on the headwall of the NB Couloir just below the col which can be seen on the earlier picture of the entire route. During our ascent of the couloir we were excited to reach the col... however, once at the col, we learned that the West Face provided the most challenging climbing and also the most exposure.

The West Face provided both fun and challenging climbing. After the mixed rock/snow climbing on the west face we roped up for the final 30 foot rock pitch leading to the summit. The view was amazing and we took a much needed break to rehydrate and snack before the long descent back to the cars.


The view from the summit included Mount Rainier which can be seen hiding in the distance through the haze.
We arrived back at the trailhead safely at 6pm after climbing/hiking non-stop for 15 hours. The drive home was less eventful than the night before's drive although it did take 2 Red Bulls and a Monster Energy drink to keep my eyes open.

Mailbox Peak: Car to Summit = 1 hour, 58 minutes. Summit to Car= 57 minutes.
4,000 vertical feet of elevation gain; carrying 35lbs in my pack (water jugs, dumped out at top to lighten load on descent)


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