Mountaineering – Quandary Peak (14,265 ft) via Cristo Couloir

Quandary Peak Summit Shot
Group Shot on the Summit of Quandary Peak.

Fred on top of Quandary Peak
Fred approaching the summit of Quandary.

Leader Doug
Doug leading the way up Cristo Couloir. Here we are almost at the top.

Bill and Fred Climbing Cristo Couloir
Bill and Fred topping out on the Cristo Couloir. North Star ridge is behind them.

Left Winter Trailhead: 6:30am
End of Road, base of Couloir: 7:45am
Begin Climbing Couloir: 8:00am
Summit of Quandary: 10:50am
Begin Descent: 11:15am
Back to Road, base of Couloir: 12:30pm
Back to Trail Head: 1:30pm

We ascended and descended via the Cristo Couloir. The guys skied down while I glissaded. What a great day!

Winter Trailhead for Quandary Peak South Side
Leaving the trailhead

I use my cross country skis on the road and ditched them before the climb. Skiing back down the road at the end of the day was way more fun than snowshoeing it!

Hungry Fox on Slopes of Quandary Peak
At the base of the couloir, while we were putting on our crampons, we saw this hungry fox!

Fred Climbing Quandary
Fred at the bottom of Cristo Couloir. Initially, there was a steep bit. Then, the slope mellows out for about 500 feet, and then the rest of the couloir was about 37 degrees.

Let's Go Cristo!
Approaching the 500 feet mellow bit. There is a party of 3 in front of us. We ended up catching up to them and passing them at around 13,500 ft.

Bill Climbing Cristo Couloir
Bill climbing Cristo. Bill is an awesome skier. I really enjoyed watching him shred the mountain on the way down.

Climbergirl on Cristo Couloir
Taken at the same spot as the picture of Bill!

Clare Celebrating Cristo Couloir Climb
Psyched to be on the summit of Quandary. It was my first time and to be up there with only a handful of people, rather than the summer hoards was amazing.

Ready to Glissade Cristo Couloir
Ready for the glissade! I put on my snow pants, tucked in all my straps, added gaiters, put away my crampons, and down the mountain I went.

This Glissade is FAST
Pondering the glissade…It was fast and fun!

I stopped about 4 times to get pictures of the guys skiing down. Doug is still learning the technique of carving turns, so I admire him for taking on an ungroomed, high altitude slope. Fred managed to do just fine as he’s been skiing for a while now. But, my golly, that Bill guy is incredible. It was a thrill watching him connect turns and dominate the mountain!

Doug Skiing Down Cristo Couloir
Doug Skiing Down Cristo Couloir

Fred Skiing Down Quandary Peak
Fred in command!

Bill Enjoying Spring Snow on Quandary Peak
Bill carving some turns.

Tags: , , , ,

Comments are closed.