Postmortem

March 11, 4:20AM: Old Man Winter and I left the Bay Area bright and early to give ourselves time for some warm up touring and scouting the day before the climb. Daniel was already in Tahoe and would join us separately. We made good time and arrived to the trailhead by 10AM. The weather was perfect and the forecast looked great for climbing day. Today's goal was to stretch the legs and familiarize ourselves with the route to avoid any possible delays the next morning. We were in motion by 11AM or so after some breakfast and final gear preparation. Sadly, Daniel was running late so we left a radio by my car in case he wanted to join in later.

March 11, 5PM: We cruised around all day and ended up covering a good amount of vertical - probably 3,500ft or so. Daniel was never able to join. We were feeling pretty good so far and did not think much of the last 2000ft. Sun was in full blast so afternoon corn was great. When the sun starting going down it firmed up quick. Avalanche risk was relatively low and there were no obvious signs of instability. We were feeling confident for tomorrow. We met Daniel back at the trailhead and drove into Bridgeport where we would be staying for the night. As we consumed a big dinner and started chatting with the owners we told them the plan and their only response was, "you do know that it is daylight savings tomorrow, right?" We all looked at each other in disbelief, half laughing, half sighing. No, we completely forgot and just lost an hour of sleep. It sounds even more stupid as I write this down but these are the little things that are usually learned the hard way.

March 12, 5:32AM: In motion, ready to rock. The early morning firmness proved tricky for our splitboards, as you can see from the first few photos we were using crampons. Note to all splitboarders out there: learn to ski. Honestly, splitboarding can really suck unless the conditions are perfect. Splitboards and snowboard boots are way too flexible on firm or side step terrain and you end up destroying your ankles. Having only one effective edge does not help either. Yes, you can use a pair of hard boots, yes you can use splitboard crampons, etc. But at that point, you may want to just consider a ski setup. This trip was actually a huge motivation for me to learn how to ski.

March 12, 8:34AM: We had a double setback right around this time. First, Daniel's splitboard binding broke. One of the buckles sheared. He had two options: try to repair with a ski strap and continue or turn back around. We may have been able to make a quick field repair work but he was also in a good position to turn around and avoid some risk. He was mostly concerned about the descent and opted to turn around. This was a good teaching moment: carry a basic repair kit and tools. No need to bring an entire machine shop out with you but carrying some essentials like extra ski strips, zip ties, metal wire, duct tape, super glue, a knife and/or multitool, and some paracord can get you out of most typical field breaks. You can adjust your kit as you go. As Daniel and Old Man Winter discussed further options, I continued up an icy slope. I made a crucial mistake at this point in failing to identify how steep the slope got. The second setback came soon after I was about halfway through this section and my splitboard slid out from under me. I began sliding down feet first and was picking up speed. There was no cliff nearby but I was moving uncomfortably fast and was heading towards a flat spot with trees where an impact could be pretty bad. Without much thought I immediately rolled onto my stomach into a self arrest position and hammered my trekking pole into the mountain face as hard as I could, coming to a slow halt. Thank you Black Diamond Carbon Cork trekking poles for being built properly. This is a prime example of why practicing fundamental mountaineering skills like self arresting is crucial. I did a quick evaluation of myself and determined I had scraped up my arm pretty bad. No deep cuts but not a pretty sight. I cautiously moved to a more flat section where I traded in my splitboard from crampons and an ice axe. I should have done this to begin with.

March 12, 10:53AM: We were making steady progress and had past the 10K mark. We were tired but still felt pretty good physically. My nerves were running a bit high after my slide and we were making conservative choices for when to swap over to crampons. To be fair, there were some pretty steep pitches along the way. This slowed us down due to the additional transitions and sinking more in the snow. As we entered into the base of the east couloir our pace began to slow significantly.

March 12, 12:23PM: Upon entry into the east couloir our optimism diminished. There are three couloirs you can take: ski dreams, east, and west. It is a bit hard to predict which one will be best until you actually get there. It just depends on snow conditions, ski traffic, and skill level. East couloir is pretty steep and would probably be considered a double black diamond at any resort. We were starting to get loopy from the elevation past 11K and decided to drop our boards at an attempt to reach the summit at least. We slogged on cautiously as best we could.

March 12, 1:29PM: By this time we were quickly approaching our 2PM turn around time and knew we would not make it. It was becoming more rocky and technical. Our breathing was becoming heavier and we needed more calorie intake. But we did not have time to take a break if we wanted to reach the objective. After a brief discussion together we decided it would be best to call it quits. We took a few quick photos and made our way down. We still had an amazing descent down with perfect spring corn. I think that is an important point worth noting - when you are doing backcountry touring you can still have an amazing time on a "failure" day. Good snow and turns with no (serious) injuries is always a win in my books. Our bodies quickly recovered from the higher elevation effects as we descended. We made it to the car by 3PM or so, packed up and began the long drive back to the Bay Area.

March 30, 2024, 11:05PM: As I finish writing this post up 7 years later I can not help but reflect on how much I have learned. Time management, setting realistic expectations, risk assessment, technical skills, and more. I am looking forward to heading out to Matterhorn once again as a ski tour someday soon.