Coated with tasty Utah powder, the narrow couloir below us was nothing less than a 2,000-vertical foot statement of nature's perfection. |
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So they turned their attentions to climbing a neighbouring couloir which they completed in eight hours the following day. |
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About two hours after departing the lodge, the group reached the bottom and entered the west couloir. |
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We need crampons and ice axes for the climb, but only use our rope to exit the top notch of the couloir. |
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We pick a line of lesser resistance, but nonetheless find ourselves perched above a steep couloir. |
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Under a bluebird sky, he stood staring at 5,000 vertical feet of untracked powder, which disappeared down a steep-walled couloir that hadn't been touched all winter. |
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But at its narrowest the couloir is about two ski lengths wide. |
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They were not roped together at this point, and Doug decided to scout a way across the rock face into another chimney, or perhaps to a couloir they could use as a way down. |
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Ascend a long, easy snow couloir back left to the crest of Cassin Ridge at 17700 feet, where there is a campsite. |
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When they approached the couloir shortly before 0300, the snow was firm enough for them to use crampons. |
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Twight and I briefly considered the West Rib or the Messner Couloir, but both had two feet of avalanche-prone windslab over blue ice. |
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We started down and did two rappels in the Stettner Couloir. |
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