Cannon Couloir
Apr 5, 2008
I left Seattle at 4am and by 7:20am we were bushwacking up Rat Creek, eagerly anticipating the chance to get the weight of our backs and onto our feet. After some difficult skinning through forest and steep terrain, we entered a beautiful slope perfect for a skin track. Trevor and Adam lead the charge through a mix of sun crust, wind scoured snow and recycled powder; I had a hard time keeping up and I didn’t even break trail once.
Five hours and 5,800ft later, we were on a rock overlooking the snow filled Coney Lake, enjoying the bluebird and sun. Cannon Couloir was somewhere to right, but we were mesmerized by the other couloirs in front of us. Adam joked that we could each have our own. We decided to add an additional ski to the trip and began the skin across the lake and eventually switched to boot packing and ice axes once the going got steep.
At the top, we realized we were only a couple hundred feet below the summit, and we donned our skis and made our way up to the summit and enjoyed views of Colchuck Peak, Stuart and Cashmere. There was also a group of mountain goats perched a couple hundred yards below us and I tried to use the alluring stench of my boots to bring them closer, but they wouldn’t budge. The conditions in the couloir were variable, with some decent snow mixed in with crust and hard pack. Once out of the couloir, it was skins on and the final push up to the original objective, Cannon Couloir. Reaching the top of the ridge, we winded through the rocks towards what we thought was the entrance, only to discover it wasn’t there. We consulted the map and couldn’t figure out where it was – at one point we thought about skiing back down Rat Creek.
We decided a nearby point looked promising and traversed the ridge until we came to the top of the couloir. Again, the conditions were variable, but we were able to occasionally find some decent snow and the couloir itself is impressive. At the open slope below the couloir, we found consistent powder for awhile before returning to crusty and wind packed snow and finally, near the bottom, some glorious corn snow. We braved the river at the bottom, and skied the road most of the way down to my car we had left in the morning. At which point, Adam had to hitch a ride, because I had forgotten my keys in Trevor’s car.
Five hours and 5,800ft later, we were on a rock overlooking the snow filled Coney Lake, enjoying the bluebird and sun. Cannon Couloir was somewhere to right, but we were mesmerized by the other couloirs in front of us. Adam joked that we could each have our own. We decided to add an additional ski to the trip and began the skin across the lake and eventually switched to boot packing and ice axes once the going got steep.
At the top, we realized we were only a couple hundred feet below the summit, and we donned our skis and made our way up to the summit and enjoyed views of Colchuck Peak, Stuart and Cashmere. There was also a group of mountain goats perched a couple hundred yards below us and I tried to use the alluring stench of my boots to bring them closer, but they wouldn’t budge. The conditions in the couloir were variable, with some decent snow mixed in with crust and hard pack. Once out of the couloir, it was skins on and the final push up to the original objective, Cannon Couloir. Reaching the top of the ridge, we winded through the rocks towards what we thought was the entrance, only to discover it wasn’t there. We consulted the map and couldn’t figure out where it was – at one point we thought about skiing back down Rat Creek.
We decided a nearby point looked promising and traversed the ridge until we came to the top of the couloir. Again, the conditions were variable, but we were able to occasionally find some decent snow and the couloir itself is impressive. At the open slope below the couloir, we found consistent powder for awhile before returning to crusty and wind packed snow and finally, near the bottom, some glorious corn snow. We braved the river at the bottom, and skied the road most of the way down to my car we had left in the morning. At which point, Adam had to hitch a ride, because I had forgotten my keys in Trevor’s car.