West Deming, East Face, Seldom Flat and Lemming Drop

On June 7, 2019, Bruce Allen and I climbed the peak from Vail Pass in just over 3.5 hours. We took a look at the desired line. It looked like it could be very mushy but we went for it anyway. Bruce went first and a lot of snow moved as he made his way down. I followed and it was similar, plus there was one natural slide from below the cornice. So we got down, but it was somewhat unsafe. We then made the long traverse back to Flat Pass. This line is between Flat Pass and Seldom Pass (the pass below the west ridge of Deming), so let’s call it Seldom Flat. At the pass we climbed halfway up Uneva, and so the day was an even 4000 feet of climb over 13 miles and 8 hours. In better conditions one could try the awesome line that goes right from the summit (see below)!

We wanted the line that goes from the shallow saddle looker’s left of the summit. It looked to be mushy. I thought it would be okay, but in fact it was too mushy for a good descent. But we got down safely.

Drew Thayer skied the east-face line that goes directly from the summit in early April 2021. He likes Lemming Drop for the name.