This climb had been on my list for a long time. It was never the primary objective during my trips to Colchuck Lake and just never seemed to fit in nicely. With Dale rolling into Seattle late on Friday, a late start on Saturday was in order before a bigger day on the Gerber-Sink on Sunday. We drove to the trailhead by around 11am, made the 2.5-hour approach to the far side of Colchuck Lake, and set up shop on the large, flat boulder there.
It was 2:15pm before we had packed up for the climb and started moving. Thankfully, there was a boot pack up to the moraine and then breaking trail from there wasn't too painful. We were at the entrance of the couloir by 3:15pm. With good snow conditions and some easy icy steps, it didn't make sense to rope up. We got to the top of the couloir by 4:15pm and then wrapped onto the North Face, which took about another hour to get to the summit. It was a gorgeous day, with awesome views. Things were pretty warm and comfortable in the sun.
Above the couloir, heading to the top with Stuart in the background
While this route wasn't technical, it was a worthwhile, fun romp.