The Grunge Couloir is one of those lines that I seem to think about a lot and I am not sure why. It might be because every time I have tried to do it, things haven't worked out. Schedule conflicts, snow conditions, weather, and timing never seem to fall into place.
Josh and I ran into a few snags so our 3:45 a.m. start didn't quite happen. We started up the closed road on our bikes in the dark. We were both in a sleep deprived fog and it took a little bit for us to get into a rhythm. Arriving at the base of the ascent into Wooly Hole, I decided to follow the snow thinking it would save us some time. Turns out I was wrong. We ended up in some pretty fun terrain, but we lost a lot of time.
After climbing our way through a chute we named "Death Cookie Couloir" we popped out in Wooly Hole. The sun was already out and heating the cornices that hung over the Grunge. It was only 7:30 a.m. but I knew we weren't going to make it. It was getting hot fast and by 8:30 the snow was already starting to corn up. We hit the base of the couloir around 9:30 a.m. and watched as rocks began to tumble off of the face. We were too late.
The Grunge turned me away again. The entire month of April was filled with days that would have been perfect. The only problem was that they were weekdays. Someday soon I will tick this line off of my list. Just turns out that it wasn't this season.
 |
| Photo Credit: Josh Snow |
 |
| Photo Credit: Josh Snow |
 |
| This is right after I swallowed a bug... I wasn't happy. It was a big bug. |
No comments:
Post a Comment