Alfani ambassador Doug Burns hop turns down the Cham Couloir. Beartooths 2016.
I would have never guessed it, but this year early April might have been too late for the East rosebud roadside attraction: Chamonix Couloir. Dry trail, talus, deadfall, and 5.4 rock climbing were all necessary components of actually accessing the snow in the Chamonix. Low snow is a general expectation for this popular couloir skiing destination, but if I knew how much of an effort it was really going to be, we probably would have committed to traveling elsewhere.
Like many great adventures, inspiration for the Cham struck late the night before our anticipated alpine start. My very close friend Doug Burns was recently accepted to medical school, so we had to have one last ski trip together before Doug started a new four year chapter of his life on the ice coast. Our other close friend AJ Dayvie joined us and brought along Suisho, his tricked out Delica four wheel drive van. Leaving Bozeman just after ten pm, we arrived at the East Rosebud Canyon trail head around 12:30 am.
Like many great adventures, inspiration for the Cham struck late the night before our anticipated alpine start. My very close friend Doug Burns was recently accepted to medical school, so we had to have one last ski trip together before Doug started a new four year chapter of his life on the ice coast. Our other close friend AJ Dayvie joined us and brought along Suisho, his tricked out Delica four wheel drive van. Leaving Bozeman just after ten pm, we arrived at the East Rosebud Canyon trail head around 12:30 am.
Suisho in all of her glory
It was difficult for us to decide on a start time because we were uncertain about what to expect. We were not seeing a consistent melt freeze cycle, and it had recently been too warm to still expect cold snow. We decided on 6 am hoping that noon wouldn't be too late if wet slides were going to be an issue. Although Cham is a West facing line, there is a healthy amount of South Facing water ice that hangs above the ski route and has the potential to tumble into the couloir given enough solar gain.
After two hours of dry trail, wobbly talus walking, and precarious deadfall navigation, we made it to the entrance of the couloir. Predominately still traveling on talus at this point, we transitioned to ski boots before the real climbing started, and stashed our approach shoes and unused skins. Although we knew where we needed to be to start booting up the couloir, we had to decide which route we wanted to take to bypass some open waterfalls and steep rock steps. We meandered our way through the rocky maze and got to continuous snow in about 40 minutes.
After two hours of dry trail, wobbly talus walking, and precarious deadfall navigation, we made it to the entrance of the couloir. Predominately still traveling on talus at this point, we transitioned to ski boots before the real climbing started, and stashed our approach shoes and unused skins. Although we knew where we needed to be to start booting up the couloir, we had to decide which route we wanted to take to bypass some open waterfalls and steep rock steps. We meandered our way through the rocky maze and got to continuous snow in about 40 minutes.
Doug making rock climbing in ski boots look like it's fun
Once we reached the continuous ribbon of couloir, all we had left was the endless calf burn that seemed to wind on and on. The Chamonix packs close to 3,500' of vert, which is a lot if you aren't used to climbing and skiing things that big. Near the bottom of the couloir proper, we witnessed evidence of recent wet slides. Traveling through to boot top wet snow was making us a bit nervous about stability, but we continued hoping that the combination of aspect, elevation, and a thin layer of clouds would play to our advantage. The higher we climbed, the firmer the condictions got. We even found pockets of cold chalk and powder snow.
AJ checking out some evidence of wet slides
Having passed the bottom ice cruxes, we decided to stash our crampons near the bottom hoping we could climb faster without their weight in our packs. Of course in the end, we regretted our decision because the very top of the couloir was sporting an ice bulge that guarded to entrance to the East rosebud plateau. we could have easily climbed past it with our ice axes, but descending it would have been a different story. After some lunch, waiting for the sun to heat up the snow, and discussion about how to descend past a rock crux at the top, we ended up skiing around 1pm. Although it was certainitly not hero skiing, we found fun turns all the way down the couloir.
AJ Dayvie skis the meat of the Chamonix couloir.
Author Ty Guarino skis through the rocky top section of the Cham.
Because our approach route was so heinous, we took a different route out of the couloir. Our new route turned out to be questionably better and involved down climbing very slushy water ice and the most savage of all combat skiing. Having never climbed ice before, AJ popped his cherry by doing it ropeless, with only one tool, in telemark boots, and going down instead of up. Doug and I thought it was an appropriate introduction to such a silly sport...
Getting back to the trailhead and sitting in the parking lot was a very welcomed load off the feet. This was my second descent of the route, the first of which in the spring time. I would say after this experience, with the gnarly approach and low snow levels, I will definitely take my time before trying it again. Regardless, It was a great outing with incredible company. Thanks Doug and AJ for rallying late night to make this trip one to remember!
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