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Trip Report    

Intermediate Alpine Climb - Lane Peak: Zipper & Lovers Lane

Turned around at bottom of Zipper because of 40 CM of loose unconsolidated new snow and late start.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • Gate at Longmire opened at 0900.  Road was passable by all vehicles.  Approach from parking lot to jumping off point was well beaten.  The remainder of the approach was 40+ CM of new unconsolidated snow.  Even with snow shoes was sinking to knees.  Stream crossing was challenging.

Gate at Longmire opened at 0900.  Four climbers in snow shows. The approach from the parking lot to the jumping off point was well beaten.  There was no evidence of my tracks (or any tracks) from a week before from the jumping off point to the Zipper.  The approach had 40+CM of new unconsolidated dry snow.  Even with snow shoes be sunk in.  Breaking trail was slow.  We originally stayed on the North Side of the creek to approach the Zipper.  We could not find a suitable crossing.  Two climbers fell through snow bridges trying to cross the creek in different locations.   The second one got a boot filled with water.  Neither were injured.  We retraced out footsteps back up stream probably 500 yards and found a suitable crossing. Recommend crossing the creek right away to the South side after you reach the valley floor.  We arrived at the bottom of the Zipper at Noon.  We dug a pit and performed a snow profile and column compression test.  There were no red flags.  We were concerned about having enough time to meet the 1700 gate closure and decided to come back another day.  We had lunch and departed at 1345. It took 1.5 hours to get back to the parking lot using our morning tracks.  The NWAC reported that wind slabs on all points and persistent slabs on the Southern exposures were the problems.  We will return when we have more time and the snow is better consolidated.