GC5RJ5R Cristo Couloir--Inspired by a Blue Whale
Type: Mystery | Size: Small | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: Denali41 @ | Hide Date: 04/15/2015 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 23.100 W106° 06.300 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
               

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CONGRATULATIONS TO OR85OR450 FOR THE FTF!!

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This is a puzzle cache that is NOT at the listed coordinates.  Read the information below, do your homework, and then calculate the cache’s coordinates.

At an elevation of 14,265 feet, Quandary Peak is without question the monarch of the Tenmile Range.  It’s an extremely popular 14er to climb because of the easy East Ridge Route trail to the top and it’s proximity to the metropolitan areas along the Front Range.  But there are other wonderful routes on the mountain that get adventuresome climbers/scramblers away from these significant crowds, including a marvelous, moderate snow climb on the peak’s south side in its Cristo Couloir.  The Cristo is a shallow, south-facing couloir that provides a great snow climb from mid-April to mid-June.  Many snow climbers view the Cristo as a rite of Spring–a climb on nice, moderate-angle snow to get ready for more serious stuff!  For folks who are not comfortable with cramponing and ice axe work on snow, it’s also possible to climb/hike the scree and rock along the couloir’s edges.  Either option, snow or rock, provides a route of more than 2,500 feet elevation gain from parking at Blue Lake to the Quandary summit.

The puzzle that provides the coordinates of the cache was inspired by a blue whale, specifically “Whale of a Cache”, GC5P1KQ, by icezebra11.  Whale of a Cache employs a variation of a puzzle theme that I’ve used before; I found this variation to be interesting and neat, so I’m using the concept here:

Near the summit of Quandary is a benchmark having an identifier that ends in “622".  This benchmark is 0.00577 ° north of the cache.  The cache is 255 m east of the benchmark. Using this information calculate the coordinates of the cache.  Then make the snow climb or rock scramble to the cache location and sign its log sheet.  After finding the cache consider continuing to the summit of this great mountain and from there contemplate your best descent route.  The safest is to the follow the standard East Ridge Route down to its trailhead and then hitch a ride or make the long hike back to your parking location along the road.  Accomplished snow climbers can make a nice glissade directly down the Cristo and be back to parking in a jiffy!

The cache is a peanut butter jar wrapped in silver duct tape.  It’s placed in a conspicuous rock formation a short distance above the Cristo’s snow. The rock structure has two brownish-orange rock “slabs” with a crack between them.  The jar is in this “cleavage” and is covered by several smaller rocks to keep it in place.  Be certain to replace everything as you found it.

The cache will be deeply covered with snow during winter, and the road to Blue lake is not plowed during winter months. Have a fun caching adventure, and be safe.

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Additional Waypoints

08/11/2017 By Denali41
A friend and I climbed Quandary today by the marvelous West Ridge Route, a fine "scramble" and route-finding challenge that I've done twice before. We decided to descend from the summit to our vehicle via the Cristo Couloir. This gave me an opportunity to check on my cache as we came down the couloir. Everything is fine with the cache container and log.

08/21/2016 By COpackrat
Found on my way up Quandary. I've tele skiied this gully, but never ascended it so it was a good exercise in my knee rehab work - came down the same way to finish the work out. Cache is in good condition - thanks.

09/27/2015 By GeologyJohn
For various reasons, I wasn't sure if I would be able to hike up Quandary during my trip to Colorado. I solved the puzzle just in case and was able to cash in on that work with a successful ascent up the couloir. It was so much fun! Thank you for placing this cache - I would not have considered going up this route otherwise. It was the perfect level of challenge. There wasn't a single person on the route with me, which was certainly a big difference from my descent along the east ridge. I proudly signed under Mr. Oregon, a fellow DFW area cacher. Thanks for the awesome cache.

08/06/2015 By OR85OR450
Hiya! My wife & I had a great visit over to the peak from the Springs area today ! We don't usually get the chance to wander quite this far, but the stars aligned a couple evenings ago & here we came .
I browsed over the blue '?' last night about when I should have been going to bed & was intrigued! Eventually looked at 'zebra's Blue Whale puzzle too, & was a bit daunted by the thumbs up / thumbs down ratio Nonetheless I went through two computations here - And earned Two Thumbs Downs !!... but I was sure enough in my method to believe the devil was in the details only.
We had a great hike up in beautiful weather ( pics later!) and Mrs. was okay with me breaking off to make the couloir descent (Way TOUGH!!); and indeed my numbers were real good N/S, and the cache description was good enough to cover my E/W incorrectness.
And, I would sure love to know if this was deployed while on your way down... or up; 'cause if the later: WOW ! Major Hiker, you are!

04/15/2015 By icezebra11
Thank you Steve!. I'm humbled that you have used my "angle" in determining the coordinates for this cache.
Iceebra11