Indian Peaks Wilderness is full of great snow climbs, some classic and some obscure. In his book Gerry Roach mentions three couloirs on the southwest face of Shoshoni Peak. Eight short sentences leave details to the imagination. Two of those sentences in particular piqued my interest. “The westernmost couloir is the steepest of the three. It is narrow and has a rock pitch at the bottom.”
Head of South St. Vrain drainage at dawn
A call to the Boulder County Ranger District last Thursday indicated that the Brainard Lake Road would be opening the following day. What luck! I've walked the road before and vowed to never do it again. Miles of concrete are not kind to tired, abused feet. I penciled in a trip to check out Shoshoni’s southwest couloirs on Sunday contingent on being able to get up early again after two days of painful alpine starts.
Four o’clock found us hiking up the gated road to the Long Lake Trailhead. From there the trail was snow covered except for a few small dry patches. There had been a very good freeze overnight and travel was easy. The steep section right below Lake Isabelle was tricky without crampons because the snow was bulletproof. Rounding Lake Isabelle was quite interesting as there were tall snow cliffs over the lake and footing was very slick. Most of the time kicking into the snow was impossible.
The sun rose and we were happy with our progress. The approach had been easier than expected and we weren’t in any big hurry to jump on the shaded couloir given the bulletproof snow so we took a break above Lake Isabelle. Other climbers began appearing.
We followed frozen steps heading for Apache Peak until 11,900 ft where we cut north toward Isabelle Glacier and the base of Shoshoni’s southwest couloirs. Finally our objective came into view.
Westernmost couloir on Shoshoni's SW Face
After gearing up for the climb Kevin, wishing to pay his dues early on, led the way up the apron and into the narrow couloir, expending plenty of energy kicking steps in the hard snow. The steep, rocky crux appeared quickly and Dominic led us to a suitable spot for an anchor on the right side of the couloir.
Approaching the mixed step near the bottom
With a belay from Kevin, Dominic continued up to the base of the crux and spent some time investigating. The rock was partially covered with manky snow and his pick placements did not feel secure. He spent some time looking for protection opportunities but there simply were none. Ultimately he wasn’t comfortable committing to the first moves without any protection and retreated to check out a reported 5.2ish workaround on the rock just right of the couloir. The short rock pitch was much more reasonable and Dominic was yelling off belay in no time. Heather followed Dominic and I was third in line.
Heather on the workaround pitch
When I got to the belay station it was already crowded and I knew it wouldn’t accommodate four people well. We were directly above the crux and from our vantage point it looked like a sheer drop off. It was a little spooky, but I cautiously tested the snow, unclipped from the anchor, and started up. I’m usually happy to follow when a snow climb gets spicy, but I knew it was in everyone’s best interest for me to continue on and kick steps and I knew I could handle it. The first ten feet or so were great - the snow was soft enough to kick good steps without a lot of effort. I tried not to look down over the drop off. Soon Heather was behind me and we continued on as the boys finished up the rock pitch.
Kevin in the couloir
The relatively easy going was very short lived and the snow suddenly turned very, very hard. I could get the shaft of my axe in with a few blows, but kicking steps was a time consuming and labor intensive process. This puppy is consistently steep. We didn’t measure the slope angle, but we all concurred that it felt steeper than 50 degrees pretty much the entire way. Combined with the hardness of the snow, it made for quite a serious climb.
Heather had done very little snow climbing before, and no steep snow climbing, but after she followed for a while she got comfortable enough to try out the lead. I knew that being an avid ice climber she’d take to it well. She did a fantastic job kicking steps for us and I think she realized that ice is very nice but steep snow ain’t too shabby either. The higher she climbed the more she liked it she decided to take us all the way to the top.
Finally we emerged from the narrow couloir into the sun and we were hot! Stopping to take off a layer had not been an option on the steep, hard terrain. At the top we eagerly ripped off some layers before continuing on.
To gain the plateau above Shoshoni’s southwest face we climbed a steep snow slope above the couloir. In stark contrast to the snow in the couloir, this snow was very soft and wet. Dominic led the way up, topping out to the left of the remains of a cornice. This cornice looked like it could be problematic earlier in the season. Once on the plateau, it was a short walk over to Shoshoni’s interesting summit area. A fun, easy little scramble through much goat crap deposited us on top. We were prepared to take a well deserved summit break to eat and hydrate but rapidly building clouds and a distant clap of thunder caused a change of plans.
Kevin, Dominic & Heather on the summit of Shoshoni Peak
We plunge stepped northeast down very soft snow. At about 11,800 ft Heather discovered that her mountaineering axe had fallen off her pack somewhere but with the imposing weather she decided it wasn’t worth going back for. We continued south down another soft snowfield and regained the South Saint Vrain drainage at a point just above Lake Isabelle. A pair of climbers had been behind us in the couloir and descended the same route we did. It turned out they were Jeff Shafer and James Just and they had recovered Heather’s axe! Lucky girl!
The masses of skiers and climbers who had been enjoying various lines in the basin were trickling out, every one of them crossing over partially frozen Lake Isabelle. Not wanting to deal with the snow banks on the side of the lake again, we decided to just follow suit. The hike out was uneventful except for a few drops of rain.
I highly recommend this climb for those who have the proper skills and experience. Steep, sustained, and narrow is a winning combination when it comes to couloirs. I was quite surprised at how great this line ended up being.
