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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    159

    TR: Dragontail Couloir RMNP 4-28-07

    Those involved= DRT (mag in training), non-mags Chad, The Gina, Trip, Joe and Carl

    Location= Dragontail Couloir, Flattop Mountain Rocky Mountain National Park

    Saturday the six of us headed into Rocky Mountain National Park to ski Flattop Mountain. We headed out from the Bear Lake trailhead around 6:15am. We made good time on the easy skin up to the base of the couloir.

    The line beginning to show itself



    Chad getting his first look



    It was really heating up when it was time to drop the skins and start up the couloir.



    Booting up the lower section before the couloir splits



    Three of us had skied route proper up the climber's left side of the split and decided to try the climber's right side while the other three headed up the standard route.

    Looking down the climber's right side



    Gino dropped 1st and I completely missed getting any shots of the initial drop in (which was fairly steep). I dropped next and then shot Chad coming down to the main portion of the couloir.



    We met the other three where the upper forks meet and continued on down the mellower lower stretch.







    Looking back up at the line



    Time for BEER!



    There we have it. A nice short TR about a perfect, fairly short day in RMNP...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Zurich, Switzerland
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    1,322
    Nice line!
    Lot's of lines were getting skied this past weekend.
    Last edited by IridePow; 05-01-2007 at 03:58 PM. Reason: deleted a dumb comment

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Just outside the bubble
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    1,743
    I love it.
    Have fun or get hurt bad. "MFT" A.K.A. Dr. Doom

    There are but three true sports--bullfighting, mountain climbing, and motor-racing. The rest are merely games. "Ernest Hemingway"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    CO
    Posts
    5,017
    One of my favorite lines in the park. It's got some nice pitch up top and a fun choke in the middle. Nice work.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    1,792
    That's a really fun line. How does the rock stop look right now? Did you climb above it and top out or stop just below it? Could you ski around it on the descent?
    Ride Fast, Live slow.

    We're mountain people. This is what we do, this is how we live. -D.C.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    159
    It did get awfully hot on Saturday. Most of the snow activity you see in the pics was from the day before. We had some snow rolling with us on the top portion of the climber's right side but everything held firm once we were off the steeper section...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    159
    JT,

    I skied the other side from the rock step/choke section so I didn't get a good look at it first hand. The three that skied the climber's left side with the rock step said it was really filled in. They skied it from the top. I skied that side last year about two weeks earlier. There was less snow at the time and getting through the choke on skis wasn't pretty (at least for me). That shot gets so much sun I bet Sunday made it look completely different than it did on Saturday morning...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Eagle, CO
    Posts
    2,271
    Looks good guys!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    3,741
    Quote Originally Posted by drt View Post
    JT,

    I skied the other side from the rock step/choke section so I didn't get a good look at it first hand. The three that skied the climber's left side with the rock step said it was really filled in. They skied it from the top. I skied that side last year about two weeks earlier. There was less snow at the time and getting through the choke on skis wasn't pretty (at least for me). That shot gets so much sun I bet Sunday made it look completely different than it did on Saturday morning...
    Nice. Was just thinking about that line. In other TR's, I've often seen others using a rope to get up the rock step...but, yeah...looks really well filled in, in your shots. As you said, though, the sun hits it hard...so it may be a different story after this week...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Where the Butte is Crested
    Posts
    3,338
    That was one of my most favorite lines I skied last year! Nice job! Looks good right now!
    -
    14erskiers.com

    "Don't be afraid of the spaces between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so." - Belva Davis

    "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle"--Albert Einstein

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    low and inside
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    6,342
    love this "looking down the elevator shaft" shot



    ...and jealous.
    nice work and nice pics!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Bellingham, WA
    Posts
    217
    i'm just curious...of all the TR's i've read on this line, everyone climbs up the couloir. Access seems much easier (you never have to take off your skins) up the flattop trail. Is there a reason you guys went the emerald lake route?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    boulder, co
    Posts
    178
    nice work and thanks for the beta---i finish up with exams soon and was going to head up to the park on wednesday and thursday with a few guys. if your gonna be around in a week and want to go back and do somethin up in there PM me.
    did you get a chance to look over to tyndell at all, wondering how thats looking this time of year...

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    159
    XGnzo,

    It's easier to take the Flattop trail for sure. Even though it's a short distance from the trailhead and skied often, it's steep enough for me to always want to climb it 1st to see how things are before decending. This year on the way up, well before the couloir divides, there were several hollow spots that were at least 15' deep and fairly hard to see...

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    G-Spot
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    1,414
    Sweet Pic's, looks like fun, how late into the season does it normally hold good snow?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    CAW!
    Posts
    339

    CAW!!!!

    CAW!! CAW!!!
    CAW!

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    159
    backcountry1pr,
    It's mostly south facing and tops out at about 12,000' so it's usually done sometime in early-to-mid May...

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    417

    Thumbs up

    looks like fun
    thanks

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Zurich, Switzerland
    Posts
    1,322
    bump

    1234

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