TR: Dragon's Tail & Dead Elk | RMNP, CO | 10 March 2012

[pappag]

Few days before this past weekend hit, I got a call from my buddy Kyle who was looking to get out in the park and ambitiously go after a Dragon's Tail/Dead Elk double. With a warming trend on our hands and reports of southernly aspects shaping up nicely, we felt comfortable (one guy in our group, Cameron, had skied DT last Tuesday). Ultimately, we found ourselves with big fucking smiles all morning as we were treated to a rare day of warmth, bluebird skies, and absolutely not a hint of any wind.

After leaving Bear Lake TH at 545am, we reached the top of DT in 2hrs, descending at 8am. The first half of DT was solid ice, and as challenging as it was, we had too much fun on the down. After passing through the crux, the apron was incredibly smooth and creamy, and we were rewarded for our hard efforts up higher. Following a short break to gear up, we quickly booted up Dead Elk stopping at the crux because the snow was becoming dangerously soft. Shortly after 9am, we made our way down in primo spring snow conditions.











Why our days start before most people's nights end





Easing into the top of Dragon's Tail





Brent admiring the views from inside the couloir





First sketchball turns of the 2012 chuting season





Further down, a few turns away from the crux





Yeah, it was slightly steep





Cameron working his way down





I soon follow







Brent moments away from getting stoked on the creamy apron





Through the crux and ready to let it rip





Did I mention creamy??





Kyle making it look easy on 70mm-waist skis that weigh less than most people's lunches






Dodging deadfall is always fun!





Beautiful views before peeling off to the right and making our second ascent on the day.











While booting up Dead Elk and near the crux, I got some experience playing frogger with avalanche debris.







Kyle getting back to his racing background.







Dare I say creamy once again?




Kyle, Brent, and Cameron look back towards success and soak in the amazing views








Bye bye, Rocky Mountain National Park.... thanks and see you again soon.

[JorgeSantiago]

Good stuff as usual. We skied Chaos Couloir that day, thanks for the report from last season. I kinda want to post a report, but the pictures my shitty point and shoot camera takes makes me hesitate.

Sure hope it snows again

[montanaskier]

strong work Tom....I'm sure it was good to get out finally.

[pappag]

Good stuff as usual. We skied Chaos Couloir that day, thanks for the report from last season. I kinda want to post a report, but the pictures my shitty point and shoot camera takes makes me hesitate.

Sure hope it snows again

Right on! Ran into a group that thought about that line on Saturday, but ended up dropping DT after us. Might head into that canyon this upcoming weekend. Curious to hear how it was, specifically what time you descended and how the climb up was.

Even though this winter's been a bit of a downer, we are still due 30% of our annual snow, and we are at average in RMNP right now... so I'm hopeful.

[killclimbz]

Nice work Tom. Way to knock off a couple of classic lines in a day.

[JorgeSantiago]

We climbed up and descended pretty late, I'm somewhat embarrassed to even give the times. It was plenty stable in our estimation, just would have been a lot better skiing if we had gotten up and down earlier. Climb up was good, a little soft but not too bad, punching in to no more than our ankles. Again, would have been a lot better climbing if we had been in it sooner. Quite a bit thinner than when you were there last May I think, but still continuous all the way to the top, and more than enough coverage to be fun. Here's a few photos:



We're holding out hope for some more snow as well, guess we'll still ski whatever is available tho, regardless.

Thanks again for your reports!

[_Aaron_]

Jeez, getting too wet by 9? Is that normal for this time of the year in CO? (Im a CO jong)


Either way looks like a fun day. Thanks for sharing.

[pdiddy]

Sweet, I was up in Chaos Canyon on Sat too. Unbelievably warm to say the least. JS, I watched you guys climb the chaos couloir and got a couple of photos I'll try to put up here later. I took off thinking you were just climbing, wish I would have putzed around longer to watch the descent.

PG: how was the coverage through the middle of DT? From the ridge at the east end of Hallets it looked pretty thin.

[pappag]

Jeez, getting too wet by 9? Is that normal for this time of the year in CO? (Im a CO jong)

RMNP has howling winds about 95% of the time which helps keep the snow a lot cooler, especially on solar aspects. On Saturday, there was no wind. Additionally, temperature at the TH (9.5k; top of Dragon's Tail is 12k) at 5am was 26*. By 8am, it reached 43*. And hitting 49* at 11am. For this time of the year, extremely rare.

PG: how was the coverage through the middle of DT? From the ridge at the east end of Hallets it looked pretty thin.

Here's a better look at the crux. In the bottom left of the photo, you can see a very narrow (2' wide) entryway. While we opted to take our skis off and walk around on the right side, you could have certainly skied through with a good point and quick hockey stop. That was the only thin spot even though I did see some larger rocks here and there that almost never poke out.

[timmaio]

Looks awesome, thanks for posting it up. Any beta for finding the entrance from the top? I'm going to be coming from the west weekend after this, would love to ski dragon's tail!

Also, it looks like Dragon's Tooth(being the less steep) would be a better boot up afterwards to finish at the top?

Thanks!

[goldenboy]

RMNP has howling winds about 95% of the time which helps keep the snow a lot cooler, especially on solar aspects. On Saturday, there was no wind. Additionally, temperature at the TH (9.5k; top of Dragon's Tail is 12k) at 5am was 26*. By 8am, it reached 43*. And hitting 49* at 11am. For this time of the year, extremely rare.

I would also add that from what I've seen here in Crested Butte on steeper S facing slopes is that the snow isn't "mature" corn yet, so the moisture is staying in the upper part of the snowpack, rather than draining through.

Regardless, it feels good to get out a bit again after the way things have gone this year, doesn't it? Fun lines, thanks for the TR.

[gimpy]

dayum, that is a short corn window. suppose thats why colorado isnt exactly known for its corn season.

jus sayin. yeah, i know its only march and hasnt really consolidated.

thanx for sharing

[Kya]

Oh man, chuting season! Nice.
Thanks for the steep skiing stoke!

[pappag]

Any beta for finding the entrance from the top? I'm going to be coming from the west weekend after this, would love to ski dragon's tail!

Also, it looks like Dragon's Tooth(being the less steep) would be a better boot up afterwards to finish at the top?

Thanks!

Below is what the very top of DT looks like... pretty hard to miss. I'd say the number of people that boot up DT versus skin up Flattop from Bear Lake is about 50/50. Since it supposed to be nice again this upcoming weekend, I suspect a few groups will be gunning for DT. While I often prefer booting up, in this particular case, you risk getting pelted by ice/snow chunks from people skiing above. From the middle of the apron of DT up to Dead Elk crux via bootpack should take about 20 minutes since there is a well defined bootpack there already.






Also, here's a video of my buddy Barrows snowboarding the top section of Dead Elk on that same day. Makes me extra stoked to have nailed it in blower powder last February.

[Meathelmet]

Chu,chu,chu,chu,chu...