Sierra Mountain Center

We have done lots of trips with Joe over the years and Dan was on the Mini Mountain Camp with Eric earlier in the year.
Both guys were in great shape and knew what they were up for so guide SP PArker and apprentice Gonzalo Montenegro were happy to be able to move quickly and smoothly with them for three days.
We hiked in over Bishop Pass on day one and made camp in the upper reaches of Palisade Basin at the small tarn we use for our Fourteeners trip .
The goal of the trip was to traverse three peaks in one day so we were off before daylight and were on top of North Pal three hours after starting. We took the so called “Secor Variation” to the Le Conte Route. This provides an easy traverse onto North Pal above the difficulties of the Le Conte Route and is the fastest way to the summit.
The descent into the notch between North Pal and Starlight is tricky and involves a couple of rappels and downclimbing. More time consuming than difficult and it was lunchtime when we got to Starlight.
Gonzalo lead the no protection 5.7 to the top of the Milkbottle and Joe and Dan sweated their way up.
Then on to Thunderbolt, descending into the Underhill Couloir Notch and then up the South Ridge to the summit block. This is best done by tossing a rope over and top roping the block.
Unfortunately the trend of removing summit registers has reached here and it was gone last year. No reason for this. If someone does not like the registers, then just don’t sign in and leave it for others who do!
A final rappel to the chute north of Thunderbolt and a long talus descent back to camp for a nap.
We were up early the next morning for the hike back down from Bishop Pass and we were out having Joe’s crackers, lox and champagne by early afternoon. A perfect way to finish!

Charlotte Dome is one of the finest climbs in the Sierra backcountry. Every single pitch is excellent and the climbing challenging, but not too hard. if only it was not such along walk…..
The approach is about 12 miles one way and makes for a long day.
But the campsite is at one of the best springs in the Sierra with cold clear water bubbling from a hole between rocks.
A wonderful place to hang out.
Jay and Haimei had been here climbing for a week before with us and were tuned up. Ray is an “old school” climber with lots of experience so guides SP and Gonzalo knew that things were going to be OK.
The approach hike went well and we were at camp by 4.00pm, with time to get organized for the next day.
We travelled light and decided to wear rock shoes to the base and down the descent hard on the feet but making the climbing a lot easier.
We were moving to the base at first light and having done the climb before easily found the start, which can be a crux for many.
The route starts out low angle and slowly gets steeper.
The rock is perfect golden granite with knobs everywhere. The ‘Slot” at 5.8 is only about 80 feet long and if you stay out of the crack is not too bad.
For the leader the mental crux is a full rope length of pretty unprotected face and slab climbing on the 9th pitch, but is easy for the followers.
The winds kicked up during the day but this is typical and the clouds and thunderstorms stayed away.
We topped out about 3.30 and the descent to camp is straightforward and easy down slabs and forest, direct to camp where everyone crashed out.
A perfect climb and one all Sierra climbing devotees should do.

20090803:  Day 3

After yesterday’s adventure on Walker Tower, we had a late breakfast at the Base Camp Cafe before taking a more mellow day – the North Arete on Crystal Crag.  This is a classic II 5.6 route outside of Mammoth, featuring three pitches of steady 5.6 and another 600′ or so of 4th class ridge scrambling.  After the “II 5.6″ of the previous day, this was a nice walk in the park for Jay and Haimei.

 

In only 5:30 hours we had approached, climbed the North Arete, tagged the summit, descended the SW Ledges (3rd class), and hiked back to the car.  Nice day!

Chris Simmons is an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide and a Rock, Alpine, and Ski Guide for SMC.  More about his adventures can be found on his personal website, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.

20090802:  DAY 2!  In R.J. Secor’s book, a multi-pitch climb is mentioned to exist in Bloody Canyon, just north of June Lake.  The first tower on the left supposedly had a route following the right side of a larger corner on the prow of the tower, up to 5.6.  The whole description took up three lines as a “wrinkle”, fitting for a route established in the early 1970’s:

“There is a II 5.6 route on the easternmost pinnacle.  Climb the face to the right of a black open book, and then the book itself for eight pitches to the top of the pinnacle.  This was first climbed October 1972 by Art Buck and Allan Fletcher.”

Secor, The High Sierra, 2nd. ed., pg 376

Three previous attempts, as a solo, mock-guiding, and an actual guided trip (thanks Carlton!) had gotten me up the first three pitches, but two more were clearly needed to top out.  A 60-meter rope cut down on the number of pitches that Buck and Fletcher had established, but I’m still scratching my head over how an 8-pitch climb could be called a grade II.  I talked a good game to Heimei and Jay, so they bit the bait and signed up to go for an adventure.  Oh boy.

First, we were using 55m ropes (chopped 60m’s) and suddenly those great belay ledges on the right side were just out of reach, so we had to belay, and climb in and out of, the dirtier corner, and it took three pitches to climb the lower corner instead of two.  Then I climbed through the roof pitch instead of staying on the right wall:  The climbing through the roof was cool, but the remaining 100′ was un-inspiring.  The next pitch was the meat and potatoes – a steep corner requiring careful stemming.  Again, a 60-meter rope would have put us at a great belay stance instead of in a cramped corner.  And it didn’t let up!  The final corner was a squeeze chimney, complete with pack-hanging-off-the-waist before gaining some blessed 4th class terrain to the summit.

A quick bit of short roping gained us the notch behind the tower, and the descent.  We finished the hike to the car right after dark by the light of a full moon and two headlamps.  Jay won’t make that mistake again!

Now that a week has worn away the edges of my memory, the climb wasn’t so bad, but it needs an early start (plan for an 8-10 hour day), a 60-meter rope, some cleaning to make it worthwhile.  Its also stiff for the reported grade – my compromise is to call it a II/III 5.7.  Jay and Haimei still insist that it was the adventure they had been looking for.  Not sure if I’ll head back there anytime soon, but I can be talked into it…

Chris Simmons is an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide and a Rock, Alpine, and Ski Guide for SMC.  More about his adventures can be found on his personal site, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat. 

Jay and Heimei joined me again this year for a few days of rock climbing.  August 1st was day one, so we took it mellow and went to a sector of Big Springs that’s new to me:  The Stumps.  Big Springs is better known for Clark Canyon, but the stumps featured 60-150′ trad climbs up remarkably good welded tuff.  We climbed a 5.6, 5.7, 5.7, 5.9, and finally a 150′ 5.8 with a great finish not shown in the guidebook.  What a great time!

Wednesday, 20090722.  Moved camp to Palisade Lake, at the toe of the Palisade Glacier, and went over snow, ice, and glacier skills.  It begins to rain at 7:30pm, and doesn’t let up until 7:00am the next day.

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 his personal site, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.

Sonja and Vale joined me for the 4th of July weekend to experience multi-pitch rock climbing.  Previously they had been strong gym climbers with a bit of outdoor top-roping experience.  So I took advantage of their fitness and experience to head for several routes that I haven’t climbed.

On Saturday we went to the PSOM Wall in Pine Creek Canyon.  PSOM stands for the Palisade School of Mountaineering, a guide service in the 70’s and 80’s that used this wall to teach multi-pitch climbing.  I was hoping to climb Running Lizards, a 3-pitch 5.7, and PSOM Pinnacle, a 3-pitch 5.8.

Running Lizards was great!  There was a little of everything – slab, face, crack, underclings…  Greg Barnes and partners had established the route in 2001 and had placed bolts in the blank sections and at the anchors.  We took our time, talking about gear removal, rope management, and rappel techniques, finally getting back to the ground at 2:00pm.  With three more hours to go, I was ready to jump on PSOM Pinnacle but they opted to go swimming in Lake Sabrina instead.  It was a hot, sunny 4th of July -how could I argue with that logic?  So we made plans to meet at the office in the morning, and went home to take my girl out to dinner, BBQ, and fireworks.

On Sunday I took them up to Cardinal Pinnacle, where we hiked up the talus field to the bottom of the rappel descent, dressed up, and traversed to the far right side of the tower to climb a link up I’m calling Red Face.  Red Face is a link up of the 5.9 finger crack pitches of Red Bush and the West Face (or Cucumbers).  For us, it turned into a 5-pitch route, going at 4th class, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 4th class to the summit blocks.  From there we took advantage of having two ropes to descend via the rappel stations down the Prow of the pinnacle.

These two routes have become my favorites for the grades – in fact I started a “Favorites” list at the bottom right hand corner of my blog.  Especially Red Face – what a classic link-up!!  I hope to get to climb PSOM Pinnacle soon to see if there may be a perfect progression.

Thanks Sonja and Vale for a great weekend!

Chris is an AMGA Certified Alpine Guide and a Rock, Alpine, and Ski Guide for SMC.  More about Chris’ adventures in the Sierra and around the world can be found on his blog, Climb.Ski.Run.Sleep.Repeat.

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:

1. climb 5 pitches and do three rappels with two ropes from the top of Pitch 5, 4, and the anchor of Lori’s Lieback;
2. 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;
3. 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.

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.