I've been thinking about doing the North Arete of Matterhorn Peak, and decided to head up to check out the West Couloir, which looked like a nice snow climb this time of year. So I stopped in Bridgeport for a wilderness permit and drove up to Twin Lakes to start hiking.

The ranger station had informed me earlier in the week that the snow level was ~8000. By the time I got there it was probably closer to 8500-9000'. The waterfalls on the approach were running strong. It was a bit windy at the trailhead and the ridgetops faded in and out of the clouds.



Part of the trail up to the unnamed lake at 9800' was melted out, but a lot was still covered with snow. But in the afternoon it was easy to kick steps. The lake itself looked to be in the process of melting out, and I camped a bit above it.



The weather was slowly clearing out, but it remained a bit windy. Temps were maybe around 30-ish overnight. In the morning I headed out at 5am and was greeted by some wonderful morning alpenglow around sunrise.


The east couloir looked to be partly melted out, but the west couloir was nicely filled in, continuous 40-ish degrees. A couple hundred feet from the top was a nice rest stop.



At the couloir exit I dropped down a couple hundred feet and scrambled up the most obvious gully on the west side. It contained some hard snow in places and I made my way up ledges and flakes to the summit, maybe class 3-4 or so.



I had a chocolate bar and perused the summit register. Ah, wonderful.

Before long I made my way down the third class ledges to the east couloir, and descended it, greeting four climbers coming up that way. At the lowest part of the scree I glissaded down the Matterhorn glacier and returned to my camp.


It was pretty warm heading back to the car. A couple of skiers were coming up to enjoy the corn I guess. On the way home I drove over Conway Summit and stopped at the Whoa Nelli Deli to enjoy the season's first fish tacos :)