Joey Manship
- Apr 11, 2020
- 6 min read

Northwest Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn

Northwest Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn Trip Summary

4/10/20

After taking about a week off from my last tour, due to spring weather conditions and toe blisters. I figured it was about time to get back in the hills. On the 9th Alex Arnis and Jeremy Collette both shot me texts about doing the Northwest Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn the following day. At first I was skeptical with a little concern about weather, but after doing some research and getting some good beta on the line, we figured it was time to give this Wasatch mountaineering classic a go!

I knew the skiing wouldn’t be the best I had ever had but figured it would be okay, so I spent the evening packing up harnesses, rope, carabiners and assorted sharp thingys (technical term for ice tools and crampons). Alex and Jeremy picked me up at 7 am the next morning and we headed up to the White Pine trail head, which was surprisingly crowded.

We started skinning, heading towards White Pine drainage then veered off to Red Pine. We worked our way up into the deeper Wasatch. It was a mellow skinner and we didn’t really have to use our risers. From here a lot of people will gain the ridge to the Pfeiff by going up Red Pine to No Name Baldy, but with stable conditions we figured we ought to take a more direct route and go up Maybird Gulch.

-Working our way to Maybird Gulch from White Pine

After about 3.5 miles of ice skinning we came over a roll and were able to see the Pfeiff! An absolutely stunning mountain with jagged ridge lines and no one around. We looked at the ridge connecting No Name Baldy and the Pfeiff and opted to boot up a couloir close to No Name Baldy. I was a simple bit of left foot right foot to gain the ridge. Getting to the top the full effect of the sun hit and we all started sweating and shedding layers.

-Our views approaching the Pfeifferhorn

-A shot of the couloir we booted up taken from our exit from Small Pass

-Jeremy setting the booter (as usual)

From here we just needed to boot across the ridge and up the south east side of the peak! It was a pretty easy boot with the sun starting to warm the snow. I had my crampons on but that turned out to be overkill. Then all of a sudden we were at the top, there was plenty of room for us to gear up and transition. The views from the top are as you would expect, epic.

The whole approach was beautiful, but from the top you can see so much. Looking south you get an awesome view of Box Elder Peak and Mt. TImpanogos. To the north you get the north side of the Little Cottonwood Canyon road and all of the amazing chutes of the back side of Broads, Mill B and Cardiff Fork just asking for you to come boot up them.

-Looking towards the valley over Lone Peak

-Looking at Box Elder Peak with Timp hiding behind some clouds.

From here we transitioned into rope mode, there was a sling already left at the top of the chute so we opted to use that rather than leave our own gear. After getting harnesses on we set up the rappel, put out skis on and got ready.

To summarize the line you start the descent at 11,326ft. There is a rappel from the top to the middle section, you ski this to the crux which is a 40-80+ft rappel depending on the time of the year. You then exit the rest of the chute into the apron. You finish at about 10,200ft then pick your exit to LCC.

Peering down into the couloir, it did not look great. A mix of ice snow from a past skier, as well as avy debris from the SW aspect of the couloir melting off. We all accepted that the skiing was going to suck. And so it began.

Alex went first, followed by Jeremy and myself. The first rappel was easy, in a dire situation it could be down climbed, but if you have protection why not use it. I got to the transition and notice that the snow was just as bad, if not worse, than I thought it would be. We pull the rope and commit to the next part.

-Alex on the top rappel

We make our way down and I make 5 of 6 of the most puckering jumps turns of my life. Ice snow, mixed with debris above a 60ft cliff will really get you going! We got to a potential rap/ski belay spot that would help us get to the main rappel and couldn’t find the protection. We could have left a sling but decide that the rope may not be long enough so Jeremy (having done this before in similarly gnar conditions) opted to be a hero and go set up the last rappel.

-Jeremy on the way to the last rap

As he went down it was obvious that the snow got worse and worse to the point where it was a sheet of near alpine ice. For Jeremy it was a slow process of inching his board, punching with his ice axe to get a hold to creep to the anchors. Which are about 4 feet below where most people would be comfortable being, it puts one right on the edge of the cliff. He gets to them, clips in and and starts to set up the rap.

Next, Alex goes, we both realize that we are facing the wrong way. So Alex makes the jump turn of his life and starts the side step down. During this Jeremy is at the anchor directly below and getting pelted with snow and ice debris that Alex was kicking off. It wasn’t a fast process but he made it, clipped in, and Jeremy started to rappel down to the last transition.

-Poor quality photo of Jeremy getting pelted by ice balls

I make the same jump turn as Alex and then start side stepping down. It is very slow going for me, one because I am feeling puckered, but also because I need to sidestep down and rut has been formed from the snowboard and shorter skis; this made getting an edge in a bit more difficult. I make it down and each step becomes a lot of work of planting my axe as an anchor and whacking at the ice with the tips of my skis to make little platforms (no metal on the tips of my Horizon Tech Atomic Backland 100 skis really doesn’t help here). The last few feet were the hardest as it becomes impenetrable ice before the anchor. But finally, Alex hands me the carabiner and a clip in to safety.

-Screenshot if me whacking some ice to make a platform for my ski

He raps down and I start to get set up. At this point I make the mistake of clipping my tether in above the actual rappel rope. I then get my ski tips below me which put me in a very awkward situation. Eventually after a lot of my signature grunts I get it figured out and with my skis on rappel down the ice cliff to a nice transition area that Alex had dug out.

-In the last rappel

This was a big moment of relief for me, we pulled the rope and got ready to ski. The boys skied down, and as expected the snow continued to be crusty and chattery. But I follow down and make the best of the hard earned turns. It was a surreal experience skiing down with ice balls I kicked off following me down as I came into the apron and straight line it down to the bottom.

-Jeremy dropping

-Me skiing out of the apron. (Cred: Jeremy)

-Looking back of at the west side of the Pfeiff.

From this point we were stoked to have the scary part done. But we were not done with the day, we did not want to exit Hogum Fork at this time of year since it would be melted out and more annoying than usual. We opted to boot pack over Small Pass and drop back into Maybird Gulch. This turned out to be quite difficult as we were a bit tired and were postholing up to our hips at times. We finally made it and dropped back into our exit drainage. We traversed across the flats and basically followed our skin track out.

-The last booter

-Alex looking at our final exit

As usual, getting back to the car, the first thing I wanted to do is take off my boots and assess my blisters. It was as satisfying as usual. We hung out in the lot, chatted with the Cardiff Snowcraft guys and headed on back down into the urban reality of Salt Lake City.