20090621 Solstice Climbing on Premier Buttress
Damien and Dustin came up from San Francisco to climb Fred Beckey’s Premier Route on the Premier Buttress. This is my favorite route in the Eastern Sierra for the grade, with incredible finger cracks, hand cracks, an exciting 4-bolt ladder to aid through, slab climbing, face climbing, and even a chimney and off-width. Whew! Andy the Intern joined us, so we climbed in two rope teams.
I think I break up the normal Pitch 2 into two pitches to facilitate belayer communication, so by my system a team can:
- climb 5 pitches and do three rappels with two ropes from the top of Pitch 5, 4, and the anchor of Lori’s Lieback;
- or you can climb one more pitch and then scramble along sandy ledges first right, and then left through a notch to a single 30 meter rappel;
- or stop on that left ledge before the notch and climb anyone of a number of bushy crack systems for two more pitches to a true summit.
Damien and Dustin are really interested in getting into trad and multi-pitch climbing on their own, and are strong sport and gym climbers, so we spent a LOT of time talking about anchors, protection, gear, and on and on. We opted for climbing the first 6 pitches and using the single rappel to get down into the gully, finishing the day before 5:00pm.
Chris Simmons is a rock, alpine, and ski guide for SMC as well as an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide. More about his adventures can be found on his personal blog, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.
20090618-20 Whitney’s Mountaineer Route
Larry and Mike joined me and our new intern Andy Soleman for a great climb of the Mountaineers Route on Mt. Whitney (14494 ft). We still had threatening clouds rolling in after noon, so I voted for a 2:00am wake-up. Since I’m the guide, my vote counted most, and we got up at 2:00am!
I’m adding a conditions report next, but its amazing to see how much snow is in the route. All of the rock normally exposed this time of year is burried – we just walked right up the middle, in snow, all the way to the summit. Amazing.
We reached the summit just before 9:00am, and stopped at Iceberg Lake for lunch at 12:00pm. Even though we cold have hiked down to Whitney Portal that same afternoon (making for a VERY big day), we opted to take a nap and stay another night. Besides, we had a dinner waiting of chicken burritos with fresh avocado and tomatos, a first desert of chocolate-carmel cookies, and a second desert of icredible dark chocolate (thanks for sharing, Larry!).
Larry and Mike wanted to get down early on the third day, and my 6:00am alarm was beaten by Larry’s voice, “Well, time to get up!” It was 5 freaking 30! I managed to ignore him and stay in my bag for another 20 minutes, but we still made it to the Whitney Portal by 11:00am! Hah!
20090612-13 Climbing Mt. Russell’s East Ridge with Burtt Blodgett
Burtt and I made a quick two-day ascent of the East Ridge on Mt. Russell (14088 ft). I’ve put together a slideshow on my personal blog with captions, at Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat. Here are the same photos in gallery form:
Girl Scout Troop 218 from Minden, Nevada. June 13 2009
Nine 4th and 5th grader girls (and one boy ) and some of their moms from Minden climbed with SP, Ali and Andrew for a day at Benton Crags. Hoping to dodge the weather which has been thunder stormy we headed out to Benton Crags after meeting at Tom’s Place. The day turned out to be pretty much perfect and we wrapped it up just as the skies opened. All of the girls did great and climbed wonderfully. Even those worried about it and a little scared all gave it a try and a few even got to the the top of the 100 foot 5.6 route. We all had a lot of fun and hope we get to climb with the girls again.
Mount Langley 6.10-11 2009
Normally June is a great month in the Sierra Nevada. But these days one never knows! For 2009 it has been cold with snow and rain in the range. Which makes it great for living in Bishop, but whole lot harder to climb in the mountains. Langley is also generally straight forward climbing to 14,042 feet but conditions always change things.
For our Langley climb participants were Burt Blodget and brothers Larry and Rich Brateman, along with Connie taking time off from the office to get out in the mountains. Guiding were SP and Bradon.
Wet snow fell as we left the Cottonwood trailhead and continued all the way to camp at Lake 3 (very imaginative naming of things here). We got camp set up before it really came down but precip came down most of the evening and night.
Next day was cloudy but at least not snowing so we headed up. Despite the conditions looking bad sometimes you need to put yourself in a situation where you can get lucky if things clear up. The old trail up to Old Army Pass still had snow on it requiring a lot of step kicking and plenty of care since a slip here would have been nasty.
This took more time than we had hoped and we eventually got to he pass which felt more like winter with new snow and a light win. Larry was feeling the altitude and had gone down with Bradon. (who then hiked back up – it’s great to be young and strong). Thing seemed to be holding but as we pulled onto the the summit plateau, SP felt his hair standing on end, a sure indication of electricity building. This is something never to mess with and the only choice is not to be there. So we turned tail and got out of there. Disappointing not to do the last short distance, but the best decision. Being stuck in a lightening storm is a very helpless feeling and there is nothing you can really do other than to swear that if you ever get out of it alive you will never be so foolish again.
So we headed back down,dealing with the steep snow on the trail again, which had softened making it even more tricky on the descent. We packed up camp and headed back out in light rain and cool temps.
Not the perfect June trip by any means but the clouds and mist make it all so beautiful and a different face of the mountains. Things do not always go according to plan, but any day one is out in the mountains is better than being in the big city.
For a video of this trip click here which will take you to our YouTube site.
Langley Video
20090608-11 Darwin and Mendel
Paul and I hiked into the Evolutions this week to climb the Northeast Ridges of Darwin (Class 4) and Mendel (Class 3). Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. The adventure started on Monday when our shorts-and-t shirt approach turned into 3 inches of fresh snow! Tuesday morning was crystal clear, and we excited made our way to Darwin Col. But cumulus clouds were already starting to build before 7:00am, forcing us to divert from the more-committing and slower-to-climb NE Ridge and try to climb the simpler and more direct North Couloir (snow to 45 degrees). But the great kick-step snow we had found everywhere else didn’t exist in the couloir: instead we sunk into mid-thigh soft snow, and it took us an hour to get from 12,900′ – 13,000′. That wasn’t going to work with the weather, so we turned around and went to check out Mendel’s approach instead.
The start for the NE Ridge on Mendel is actually in a north-facing, deep chute. We read that to mean two hours of cold, dark climbing. The NE Ridge on Darwin was much more inviting, so we decided to get an even earlier start and try again in the morning.
I woke up at 3:00am, and shouted over to Paul’s tent, “Paul! Paul, time to get up!”
“Get up for what?” he shouted back. Something in his voice made me unzip the tent door and look outside.
Instead of the clear skies we enjoyed for the past few mornings, we were well socked in – clouds covered the peaks and ridges around us, as low as 12,700 feet. OK, we’ll figure things out in the morning light. We talked a little bit more, than I tucked back into my bag and fell asleep.
In the morning we were welcomed by continued clouds and a very dark wall of something coming in, so we voted to hike out. The snow started flying just we reached Lamarck Col, and followed us all the way back to the car.
So, in the way it sometimes happens, this was a climbing trip with no climbing. But we got into a great place with some real potential. Darwin has two awesome 4th class and a nice looking 5.8 route on its north faces, and the potential for another 5th class route too. Mendel has a great 3rd class route, and low 5th class buttress, not to mention two of the biggest ice routes in the Sierra. And I think I spotted a 3rd/4th class buttress further down valey climbing to a “peak-let”. The approach is on par with the West Palisades, without any of the horse/people traffic. I think I just found my new “favorite” place in the Sierra!
Chris
Chris Simmons is an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide, and an alpine, rock, and ski guide for SMC. More about his adventures can be found at Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.
Evolution Valley Ski May 3-9
Seems as if it has been one of those years for ski trips; make plans, change them, have people drop out, more come in, adapt and then have the weather change it all.
So it was with this trip. Started out as a Monarch ski, but as numbers dropped the logistics and expenses of flying back increased. There are getting to be fewer and fewer charter companies around these days. So the trip morphed into a loop from Paiute to Echo Col with Dennis Sargent and Craig Sherman. Craig has done lots of trips over the years – decades actually- and at 65 is a great example of what we can all do if we keep in shape and with a good attitude.
We started off in light snow on May 3. The winds were strong and so we camped below Loch Leven in the trees for shelter. The next day it was till blowing hard so we left gear and headed back to Bishop for a shower, fresh food and a beer. Up early on the 5th we headed in under better skies, picked up the gear and headed over Paiute Pass to camp at Goethe Lake. From here we climbed over Alpine Col and descended to lovely Darwin Bench and camp on the dirt and in the trees at the mouth of Evolution Valley. There is still a lot of snow back there! From here in the Owens Valley it all appears dry, but to the west of the crest it still looks like winter. Snow was variable and even in a “low” snow year we skied everything we wanted. The lakes in Evolution Valley were still hard frozen and easy travel. We headed to Muir Pass, checked out the hut briefly – it is a cool hut but an icebox and mouse infested. We spent the night camped above Helen Lake and then climbed Black Giant the next day. The slopes were steep and icy so we elected to ski the lower two thirds and hiked to the summit. This was Dennis’ first big Sierra peak and it is great one. The view is fantastic from near Whitney to the Clark Range above Yosemite. We spent a while here enjoying the Sierra before having a great ski back to camp. We picked it up and climbed up ever softening slopes to camp on the west side of Echo Col. We wanted to cross it early the next morning when it was firmer with less avalanche issues.
We did so, but the east side was still soft and we were glad to get off the slope. The descent down the Sabrina drainage went well – until about 10,500 feet when the snow started to run out for skiing , but was still too much for easy hiking. We picked up the trail but still had a flog through soft snow and plunging into holes.
Eventually we hit the dry trail and it was easy back to dinner and refreshments at Whiskey Creek. A great trip and a beautiful place to be.
Sigg H20 bottles at the SMC store!!
Check out the new bottles! Click on the photo for a link to the SMC Store.
Sometimes its more about the across: Yosemite High Route
On April 10th, Nick, Sung, and Tom joined me for a great five day adventure along the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park. Normally, this tour follows the Crest from Mammoth Mountain to Tioga Pass, but a breakable crust made for challenging ski conditions and we decided to exit to June Lake instead. Still, it was five full days of beautiful scenes.
To see all of the photos from this trip, you can see my Picasa album HERE, or Sung’s Picasa album HERE.
We sorted out gear in Mammoth | Photo Sung Byun
The trip started from Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort | Photo Sung Byun
It snowed all day and into the night, but we found bare ground under the giants near the Shadow Lake trail junction | Photo Sung Byun
We woke up to clear weather on day two | Photo Chris Simmons
The second day was characterized by the long, slow climb up to Thousand Island Lake | Photo Chris Simmons
Banner Peak dominated the skyline at our Thousand Island Lake camp | Photo Sung Byun
On the third day we crossed Thousand Island Lake, climbed up to Island Pass, then skied down to Waugh Lake. But instead of climbing up to the Lost Lakes, we decided to camp at Waugh Lake for two nights and then ski out to June Lake | Photo Chris Simmons
Our camp at Waugh Lake | Photo Sung Byun
On day four Chris, Nick and Sung took a day tour up to Lost Lakes Pass while Tom rested in camp | Photo Sung Byun
Lost Lakes Pass | Photo Chris Simmons
The ski down from Lost Lakes Pass to our camp at Waugh Lake was one of the highlights of the trip | Photo Sung Byun
On the last day we got an early start and crossed Waugh Lake | Photo Chris Simmons
Unfortunately the water level at Gem Lake had been recently lowered, causing the ice around the rim to be too fractured to cross. Instead we had to take a circuitous route around the lake to the damn on the far side. Hard snow and steep slopes made it impossible to stay by the lake's edge as well, making more work for us climb up and over several hills | Photo Sung Byun
The extra work circumnavigating Gem Lake didn't stop Nick and Sung from catching a few more turns during our last break | Photo Chris Simmons
Sung took the last photo of the trip looking down at Agnew Lake from the Gem Lake damn. We were able to traverse just downhill of the damn to the north side and gain the trail down to Agnew Lake. From there we followed the old cog rail line down to June Lake | Photo Sung Byun
Chris Simmons is an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide and a guide at SMC since 2003. More about his adventures can be found at his own website, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.
Ice Climbing 4.4.09
Eric just finished up an ice climbing trip in Lee Vining Canyon. The ice is actually still in great shape despite pendulum swings in temperature. The sun is high, the ice is plastic, the climbing pretty pleasant in the sun but the trail is a melting out creating some big holes so you need to take care to avoid falling into them.
Get it while you can.
