TR: 6.2.2007 RMNP Tyndall Glacier to Andrews Glacier

[jon turner]

TR: RMNP Tyndall Glacier to Andrews Glacier 6.2.2007

Now that ski season is mostly come to an end, I've been spending the majority of my time preparing for a trip to Rainier this July. That being said, my primary goal is to make sure my partners and I are physically prepared for the climb and we've been getting out every weekend to get our asses in prime shape. However, there's still a lot of snow out there to be skied, so my plans have generally tried to combine snow climbing with skiing. My partner Steve is a solid snowboarder, but he's intimidated by narrow steep lines in the backcountry, so I've been looking for ways to combine some good climbing lines with some open less steep places to make some nice turns. Living in Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park makes for a nice close choice for hitting up some good alpine activities. I've been wanting to climb Tyndall Glacier for some time now and I've always heard Andrews Glacier made for a good moderate ski descent and practice snow climb area, so I proposed that we try and combine the two - climb up the steeper pitches on Tyndall, then traverse over to Andrews and ski out the Loch. This looked like a really good idea on paper - about 9.5 miles round trip and just under 4,000 feet of vert if we felt ambitious enough to summit hallet and otis while we were on the divide. However, with the snow line so high in Tyndall Gorge, we were unable to skin at all and had to boot back all the way to the base of the glacier, which was only about 600 - 800 feet of actual climbing, though it was superb steep snow with a steep 50 degree pitch for about 100 feet or so.

Seems like no matter how often I climb up into Tyndall Gorge, I feel obliged to take a photo of this view. I must have dozens of this shot. Hallet on the left, Dragonstail and Flattop on the right:



There wasn't much snow until 1000 feet or so below the glacier, so once we were above Emerald Lake we spent a lot of time traversing terrain like this:



A short section of snow before more talus:



There was even a little bushwacking fun above Emerald:



Finally we hit mostly continuous snow, but it wasn't worth getting the skins out with less than a mile to go. We started our day way back by the little shimmering lake in the distance:



Ah, finally Tyndall Glacier is in sight. We climbed the steepest line all the way to lookers left. It had a cool change in fall line near the top, and looking down from above the turn it looked like everything just dropped off into the air. I didn't get any pictures while climbing up because I was having too much fun.



The views from the top of Tyndall Glacier, Never Summer range to the left I believe, the divide to the right, lots of snow still out there:



Pretty sure this is the Mummy Range:



Of course I had to take a shot of Longs:



Taylor Peak and some nice looking chutes off the Sharkstooth/Taylor Gorge area:



At this point we were getting pretty tired after booting so far with our gear on our backs and the scree piles that are Hallet and Otis didn't look so interesting after such an exhilarating snow climb, so we bailed on the two summits and traversed a mile or so along the divide to the top of Andrews Glacier. It was now shortly after noon and a couple hours later than I had hoped, so I was a little worried about the snow conditions. It was warm out, but it was also partly cloudy, so I hoped the snow was not in too bad of shape. Andrews Glacier is also fairly low angled, so I hoped we'd be able to manage any wet slide activity we might encounter.

We gladly pulled our gear off our packs after nearly five miles of carrying all that weight and prepared for the descent. I went first and took my time analyzing how the snow was reacting. Near the top of the ridge, the snow had corned up nicely, and slides weren't an issue. But as I got lower the snow turned to slush and made lots of gurgling sounds as I slid my way through. Interesting to say the least. The low angle of the slope seemed to keep things in place well and we arrived shortly at Andrews tarn. The area around the tarn was completely free of snow and we were afraid our skiing was over, but just over the bench we found another section of continuous snow. The snow in the lower section was a bit sketchier and I triggered numerous wet slides. I took my time descending, however, and was able to manage the slides, allowing any movement to settle before making new turns and making sure not to ski through any of my moving slough. It was fun trying to manage the sketchy wet snow conditions and both of us made it safely to the bottom, and we began the long traverse out. Being on skis I had an easier time traversing the patchy snow back down to the loch, and steve had to put his gear back on his pack for the long trudge out. From the Loch to the car seemed to last an eternity, but once we arrived back at Bear Lake we both agreed it had been an excellent day out.

steve skiing the upper snowfied of Andrews Glacier:





A view of the upper snow field from Andrews Tarn:



Skiing the lower snow field:





Steve looks psyched to still be riding his splitboard in June:



And a final shot of the lower face:

[PeachesN'Cream]

!! NICE !!

[3DB]

Glad you guys had a nice little walk. I'm surprised to see that Andrews Tarn is completely ice-free already.

I'm about healed up, so we should plot the next climb/ski. Next up for me will be Day 50.

[IridePow]

Looks like a long day out.
But hey skiing in June.... can't beat that!

[grskier]

Most excellent, yes!

I like....

[ZGnzo]

nice pics. I skied that same line on Tyndall the day before you climbed it...maybe you saw my tracks. Here's a look down from the point where it steepens.

[smitchell333]

Good tour Jon. We were in RMNP too, although we did something with MUCH less approach.

Thats the challenge with many lines in RMNP - there are long approaches for nice but short skiing - and much of that approach is bushwacking unless you're on a melted out trail.

[Alpine Dreams]

Good stuff Mang.

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Snow in RMNP still looks pretty dang good! Looks like a fun day out! How many hours were you out total?

[HyRUPz]

Nice pix ...

[jon turner]

Snow in RMNP still looks pretty dang good! Looks like a fun day out! How many hours were you out total?

It was a long day. almost 12 hours out. tons of fun though, and i must not have felt worked too hard as I road my bike to the bar later that evening back in boulder.