Dead Elk Couloir

Name: Dead Elk Couloir
Rating: 4.5

4.5 ( 2 )

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Trail

0.5 mile 0.8 kilometer point to point
Ski Line
Extremely Difficult

Elevation

Ascent: 0' 0 m
Descent: -1,726' -526 m
High: 11,896' 3,626 m
Low: 10,170' 3,100 m

Grade

Avg Slope: 64% (32°)
Max Slope: 88% (41°)

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Trail shared by Jacob Winey

Avalanche risk for May 20, 2019: Considerable

Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making essential. Natural avalanches possible; human-triggered avalanches likely.

Full forecast for CAIC: Front Range Zone — Brought to you by CO Avalanche Information Center

Avy tweets from @CAICfrontrange

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Weather

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Current ascent conditions

Minor Issues 45 days ago See History

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“A steep ski descent with a mandatory rappel or down-climb near the top of the route.”

— Jacob Winey

GPX File

Type: Backcountry or Sidecountry

Need to Know

Bring rope and rappel gear. There's a chance that there will be enough snow to down-climb the crux, but don't take that chance, that's how accidents happen.

Description

Dead Elk Couloir starts off on a 45+ degree slope in a no-fall zone, watch your slough due to the exposed nature of the top part of this route. This goes for only a couple hundred feet before the walls choke at small cliff or down-climb. We had heard that there were rappel anchors here in the past, however we didn't find any and ended up using a rock in the middle of the down-climb as a rappel anchor. (If anyone feels like putting a new anchor in at this crux, that would be very appreciated).

After the rappel, you can expect to enjoy about a thousand feet of beautiful, technical couloir skiing before opening up on Tyndall Glacier next to the mouth of Dragontail Couloir.