Ptarmigan Windstorm

On December 10th, Eddie and I set out for Ptarmigan with a dihedral in mind that we had  spotted a few weeks prior. It starts at the top of a classic 2 pitch M7 route called Mixed Inhibitions that we had been on a few times previously.

However, to save some time we decided to avoid the first two pitches by gaining elevation up the S-coulior and then traversing back to the right on a rock/snow ramp which led us to the top of the dihedral. By the time we rappelled down the dihedral and pulled the ropes the wind had heavily picked up loading the snow slopes with spindrift. As we started the pitch a huge avalanche swept down the coulior two pitched below. Not wanted to rappel downhill from our packs we decided to commit to climbing out.

Eddie fought through the gales and soon enough the M6 dihedral was dispatched. This only marked the beginnings of our adventure though as the descent coulior was highly unstable. In the dwindling light we hurried down hugging the rock wall for safety while being blinded by winds up to 60mph. I paid dearly for my decision not to pack goggles as I blindly stumbled down doing my best to keep moving. Eddie was kind enough to lead the way - getting knocked off his feet several times by smaller avalanches.

Eventually we made it back to our skis where we were able to find some shelter to eat ane warm ourselves and then we began our 4 mile return in the dark down an exceptionally icy power line pass trail. Using our bodies as sails we were able to quickly cover the distance and finally made it to the cars.

P.S. - I didn't take any photos but Eddie had his helmet cam on....check it out! He actually caught the second avy on tape! http://vimeo.com/34240706