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13,943' Cathedral Peak
5/26/2013
ascent route: south gully to west ridge
descent route: east gully "167cm"
members of group: Andy "Danger" Mention and Zach Taylor
I had been at it climbing and riding peaks the last few weeks and my vacation was winding to an end. I had met up with various friends for different parts of the trip and ridden peaks all over the San Juans, Sawatch, Front Range, and now the Elk range. I had met up with Andy two days prior to do some Elk range peaks. We had skied Castle Peak the day prior and I had had my eye on Cathedral since Brian (Lord Helmut) on 14ers.com had posted a trip report and piqued my interest.
I did not have to twist Andy's arm much to get him interested in skiing this steep, rarely skied line, and often overlooked 13er that sits next to Castle peak. We got up a couple hours before sun rise and began hiking from the Cathedral Lakes trailhead where we had camped the night before. Snow line was at treeline at this point in the spring which was more than 2000 above the trailhead so we walked for a couple hours in the dark. The sun began to rise as we got to treeline and be were greeted with beautiful views of Cathedral basin.
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Once we got to snowline the snow steepened significantly and we only skinned for a few minutes before putting on axe and crampons and snow climbing up into the small sub basin below the east face of Cathedral and above Cathedral lakes. Clouds swirled overhead and the wind blew hard making us wonder if we would be able to ski this very steep line. We hung out below the east face for a bit waiting to see if clouds would clear up and things warm a bit. We decided to go ahead and start climbing up the more low angled south gully and watch the weather closely. As we began climbing up the south gully the clouds cleared up and things warmed very quickly.
We realized we needed to move fast now to beat the thawing snow so we hurried up the south gully to the west ridge and scrambled up the loose ridge towards the summit.
photo-Cathedral Lakes Basin. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
photo-Andy at treeline on Cathedral Lakes Basin. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
[image]
photo-Zach Taylor on the west ridge of Cathedral Peak. Photo by Andy Mention, 2013.
photo-Andy Mention in the south gully of Cathedral Peak. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
The snow was softening quickly and we were beginning to worry that a wet avalanche problem could be starting very quickly. The upper hundred feet of snow between the summit and the couloir was melted out and we felt like we were pushing time a little bit so we geared up without running up to the summit. Based on Brian's trip report I was pretty sure the couloir would go through but was a little nervous about it because I could see a 90 foot high cliff below us at the bottom of the couloir. I dropped in first on the steep low 50 degree terrain and began making jump turns down. I got a bit of surface sluffing but that was all. I continued making turns down toward the cliff that loomed below. As I got near the cliff I could see a sneak around to skier's right and excitedly yelled back up at Andy that the couloir went clean through.
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My splitboard is 159 cm long and I just barely squeezed through the exit on the rider's right side of the cliff. I made a couple more turns out into the basin below the couloir and stopped to watch Andy ski the couloir.
photo-Zach Taylor riding the east couloir/ "167cm" couloir. photo by Andy Mention, 2013.
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photo-Andy skiing 167cm. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
photo-Andy skiing the East couloir. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
photo-Looking back up at the east couloir. Photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.
Andy dropped in making cautious jump turns on the steep terrain. As he neared the cliff he cut right and began scraping through the sneak around on the right side of the cliff. My board is 159cm and was barely short enough to make it through. Andy's ski's were 167cm and not quite wide enough. I felt bad for his skis as I listened to the scraping on rock through the exit. After our narrow exit around the cliff, we decided to name the east couloir "167cm" since we had not heard any other names for this line before. We knew it had been skied before but quite possibly had never been snowboarded (though I would not be shocked to hear of another rider doing it before me either). First snowboard descent or no first snowboard descent, we are naming the line 167cm in honor of Andy's skis!
This is a steep technical line that pitches out around 52 degrees and there is no room for mistake because you will go flying off a 90' cliff if you take a tumble. That said, if you like extreme skiing/riding, this is a classic line and a beautiful peak where you will find solitude hiding from the 14er ski crowds above Cathedral Lakes...
|
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"name": "Cathedral Peak",
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"name": "East Couloir of Cathedral Peak",
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Nevado de Famatina
Posted on
January 10, 2020
|
Leave a comment
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Famatina in the background
Nevado de Fatima, or Cerro General Manuel Belgrano, is a barely-6000m peak on the eastern edge of the Andes, near the small town of Famatina. The range surrounding the peak contains gold, so the region has a long and troubled relationship with various foreign mining concerns that continues to this day. The standard route on Famatina starts with a road climb to about 4300m on a road to an old British mine, active from the 1900s to the 1920s. The ore was transported to the town of Chilecito, at 1100m, by a remarkable cable car built (
naturlich
) by Germans.
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Morning view of red cliffs and (not visible in photo) Famatina
I waited for it to cool off, or at least for the sun to get a bit lower, then rode 20km or so northeast from Patquia before camping at a litter-infested pullout a bit before dusk. There was more traffic than I had expected on what I thought was a side-road, but I managed to get a decent night's sleep. In the morning, I woke to see some bright red cliffs near one side of the road, and the snow on Famatina's summit over 60 miles away.
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Some flower
Without a headwind for a change, I made decent time up the gently-sloping valley, passing from desert wasteland to desert just high and cool enough to grow olives and grapes. That, plus the constant sight of Famatina slowly growing closer ahead, made the ride much more pleasant than recent days. I paused at a gas station in Nonogasta to cool off, then continued to Chilecito, my first "real" town in awhile. Unfortunately it was Sunday afternoon, so the town was mostly shut. I got an ice cream cone for the first time since I was a kid, and killed time in the shady town square until a few things opened at 6:00. By then, however, I was sick of the place, so I bought enough groceries for both ride and climb at the one supermercado open on Sunday evening (run by some Chinese), then continued up the road a ways to camp off a dirt side-road.
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No means no!
I was slow on the short climb to Famatina the next morning, where I stopped at a grocery store to buy more climbing food. I upped my Argentinian junk food game here by discovering their version of marzipan: 250g bars of peanut butter, oil, eggs, and sugar that pack an impressive 5000 cal/kg. I bought a few of those and some sugar-coated peanuts, then went in search of WiFi. My first stop at the ACA gas station was a failure, but my second, at a local place, turned out to be a huge and unanticipated success. The gas station owner and his family were all super-friendly, their WiFi was fast, and I got a free shower along with my half-pizza and sugary drink ($2.30 total). He even offered me a ride up toward Famatina that evening, which I politely declined, wanting to move under my own power when possible.
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Unridable road
The road is described as "4×4 only," but that can mean many things, some of which I can ride with a trailer. Unfortunately this road turned out to be more than I could handle. It starts out paved, then turns to decent dirt for awhile, except for a short washout. Just before Los Corrales, however, it turns truly ugly where it crosses the Rio Capayan via neither a ford nor a bridge. Trucks were apparently driving in the river for 50 yards, while someone on a motorbike pushed his ride through various shoals. I scouted ahead on foot, deciding that the road looked decent enough on the other side to justify pushing my bike through the mess. This worked for about half a mile, after which I gave up pushing on a steep, loose, rocky climb that I would probably have to walk down as well. I found a nice flat spot on an abandoned side road, made camp, then fell asleep dreading the 18-24 miles on foot to the La Mejicana Mine.
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Famatina comes into view
The next morning, I shoved 3.5 days' food into my pack, locked my stuff up out of sight, then started trudging up the road. After another half-mile of climbing, I saw that it once again became rideable, so I dropped my pack and went back for my bike. As soon as I got there, I realized that dropping my pack also meant dropping my key. Cursing my stupidity, I returned to my pack, at which point I lacked the energy to make another trip back with the key. In retrospect, it was probably better not to bring the bike: while half or more of the remaining road was rideable in both directions, the rest would have been seriously unpleasant, including extended sections where trucks simply follow a rocky/sandy wash lower down, and a dozen or more stream crossings higher up.
The day was warming quickly, and while I knew there was some water ahead, I did not know how far it was. Thinking I saw a seep to one side, I dropped my pack, grabbed my bladder and filter, and headed down into a dry wash. Unfortunately the wash was dry all the way to the Arroyo Ocre, named for its ochre color and content. I filtered a bit, but found it almost undrinkably metallic, making the river flowing next to the road essentially useless as a water source.
My unsuccessful bike and water excursions had cost too much time, and I was not feeling optimistic as I trudged on through the desert toward the still distant-looking Famatina. My situation improved when I found a small seep or side-stream of fresh water next to the road. I stopped in the shade to dump out the metallic stuff I was carrying, rinse my filter, drink my fill, and pack a full three liters of the good water. I was just about to head out when a Hilux containing four passengers and a driver pulled up. The driver asked me where I was going; they talked amongst themselves for a few seconds, then offered me a ride. I hesitated only a second or two before throwing myself and my pack into the bed. It felt like cheating, but I did not feel guilty.
[image]
Dirt canyon
It turns out that my good luck continued: the driver, Eduardo Luna, was a sort of local tour guide, taking four tourists from Buenos Aires on a day-trip to the mine. The tourists even spoke fairly good English. He stopped to point out several attractions along the way, including some sandstone formations reminiscent of Painted Desert, a steep-sided dirt-canyon, and some formerly-inhabited natural caves. Most importantly, we stopped for lunch at the last clean water before the mine, 5 miles and 1500' below. Seeing that I had nothing but marzipan (plus polenta, powdered milk, oats, and oil), he generously offered me a cold-cut sandwich and a peach from his own tree.
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Playing on the old tram
We stopped around mid-afternoon for a tour of the old mine, at the top of the long tram. Here I learned a bit about how the tram worked: some or all tram cars would bring up water from Chilecito, which they would dump in cisterns before being filled at one of three hoppers, then weighed before heading back down the mountain. I also learned a bit about the history, including tensions between the locals and mining companies, and a supposed vault toilet system designed to prevent miners from smuggling out gold nuggets by swallowing them. Eduardo pointed me to the start of the route and to an abandoned building where mountaineers slept, warned me against trying to summit in one day, then took off back down the hill. The building was a bit nasty, but did not seem to have a rodent problem, so I threw down my ground-cloth, pad, and bag, sorted gear for my summit push, then killed some time before cooking and going to bed early.
Nevado de Famatina
[image]
Sunrise on Famatina
I slept intermittently, waking to listen to the wind and peer out at the bright moonlight outside, which set before my 5:00 alarm. I had a comfortable breakfast inside the building, then started off by headlamp, heading a bit downhill to pick up the switchbacking dirt road leading to the ridge northwest of the mine. I followed the road a bit, then took a more direct climber- or guanaco-track when it became maddeningly flat, to reach the broad ridge around 4700m. As I climbed, I watched the sun rise on Famatina above and, eventually, the tram and various mine roads below.
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Dawn heading up Famatina
The wind, which had never quite died out overnight, was unexpectedly intense for just after sunrise, and I stopped in a relatively sheltered spot to pull up my buff, put on my goggles, and slop sunscreen on my nose and lips, the only exposed skin on my body. I tried to follow the main branch of the mine road west along the ridge, which cut across the south, sheltered side of most bumps. I hoped the wind was caused by some differential warming between the sunny and shady sides of the ridge, and would calm down as the sun rose, but it only seemed to be getting worse.
Emerging between two bumps, I was almost knocked off my feet and into the outer berm. I retreated behind a bump and considered my situation. I had enough food for another two days, so I could wait for better conditions, but I did not want to kill time all day down at the mine. I was warm enough, and getting knocked off my feet on non-technical terrain was not dangerous, just unpleasant. I waited for about a half-hour, periodically checking around the corner to see how the wind felt, then committed myself and continued staggering up the road. Either the wind had calmed a bit, or I had learned to better accept it.
The road ended shortly before the "Lagunita camp," a pathetic couple of flat but unsheltered spots next to a tiny lake and snowfield, each around ten feet long. There was a tent there, tied to a dozen rocks, amazingly still intact, and possibly containing the three Argentinian climbers Eduardo had mentioned, but I did not say or hear anything as I passed. The wind worsened slightly as I continued upslope, and the ground became looser, but there was a trail to follow and plenty of daylight, so I continued my slow ascent, uselessly checking my progress up the contour lines on my phone.
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Laguna Turquesa
I eventually reached a saddle, and traversed left to the ridge, from which I could see some lower, sharper peaks to the south. I continued along the trail until it disappeared, then continued up the slope and ridge, trying where possible to kick steps in the horizontal stripes of wind-packed snow, which felt easier than climbing the semi-stable talus. Topping out on the broad 5800m plateau, I saw several small and unimpressive frozen tarns, and wondered if one was "the beautiful Laguna Turquesa." The summit lay behind another headwall, this one with a small permanent snowfield or glacier. The right-hand side looked climbable, so I headed in that direction. Most of the way to the glacier, the
actual
Laguna Turquesa finally emerged, larger, less frozen, and more beautiful than the pathetic things I had passed. Sitting just above 19,000' on the barren and frozen plain, almost completely unfrozen except for a small ice shelf along part of its shore, it is a truly remarkable feature; given the ambient temperature, I am amazed that it remains liquid.
[image]
Famatina summit
I thought I had almost reached the summit, but it was actually a fair struggle away. I slowly meandered up the headwall right of the maybe-glacier, trying to stick to snow that was soft enough to kick solid steps but not to punch through, then continued my slow-motion progress across the lower-angle ground above, passing at least one false summit on my way to the cross. My guidebook and map say that Famatina is 6097m high, but it felt subjectively more like the locally-accepted elevation of 6220m. From the summit, I could see two slightly lower humps immediately north and west, Cerro Negro Overo nearby and, hazy in the distance, the high peaks of the Puna de Atacama far to the north. I quickly took some photos and terrible selfies, then retreated to relative shelter to spend a few minutes looking down upon the mine and Chilecito, some 16,000' below. I will never completely get used to the massive scale of the Argentine side of the Andes.
As always, the way down was quick and pleasant. I plunge-stepped down the softening snow where I could, crossed to the saddle, then skipped and almost ran down the trail to Lagunita camp. I passed the Argentinians along the way, moving slowly uphill to yet another miserable camp at the saddle. One explained that they planned to summit and return to town the next day, and would radio their driver, implicitly offering me a ride. I thanked him, then continued back toward the mine. Slightly below the Lagunita, I passed two guys from Mendoza, moving quickly with poles and daypacks. They asked how long it had taken me to summit from this point, then continued toward the summit themselves. It was early afternoon, which made me briefly question their tactics, but I soon changed my mind: they were moving well, the weather was clear and, if anything, less windy than when I was ascending, and they had 6-7 hours of light. It turns out that they probably managed, with a 4×4, to go town-to-town in a long day, showing me how to do these peaks right.
[image]
Source of the Ocre
I reached the mine around 3:00, and briefly sat around debating whether to hang out waiting for a ride with the other party. I had plenty of reading material on my phone, but I am not a patient person, so I packed up and hiked the five miles to the first water source to make camp. I remained half-awake to see the party of two drive by around 9:00, then got a decent night's sleep low enough to be out of the wind. The next day's desert road hike was less unpleasant than expected, as the road remained in the shade until near the dirt canyon, and I was back in town around 3:00 PM.
I stopped at the gas station, where I talked a bit with the owner, took a shower, and ordered a sugary drink, fries, and "lomito especial" (thin beef, ham, cheese, and fried egg) in my ongoing effort to bulk up for the Atacama. The owner closed the place around 4:00, encouraging me to hang out outside and neglecting to ask me to pay before leaving. Despite repeated warnings about keeping an eye on my stuff, and actual experience having my saddlebag stolen, Argentinians seem remarkably trusting. I answered emails, downloaded fresh podcasts, and did some writing, then left to run a couple of errands (new earbuds and fresh food) before returning around 6:45. I paid the owner's daughter for lunch and some candy ($5 total), then rode until sunset before making camp in a pullout and cooking dinner.
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Morning view of red cliffs and (not visible in photo) Famatina
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Unridable road
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Dirt canyon
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Famatina comes into view
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Famatina in the background
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Playing on the old tram
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View from the camp shack
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Dawn heading up Famatina
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Sunrise on Famatina
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Laguna Turquesa
[image]
Famatina summit
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Source of the Ocre
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No means no!
[image]
Some flower
[image]
Colorful hillside lower down
This entry was posted in Biking, South America. Bookmark the permalink
|
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Elk
Pass to Curly Creek
July
28-29, 2012
[image]
PHOTOS
AND STORY by Jason L. Hummel
Summer has arrived. Yes, it is nearly august.
Yes, I should've been hiking and biking long before now,
but unlike the rest of the country which is facing record droughts,
the northwest has had a very snowy winter and spring. With my
main activity being skiing, it is difficult to stash the boards
when it's so good out. With 6 amazing days skiing on Mount
Adams with good friends just the week before, I felt ready to
hang up the skis.
[image]
So, what do I do now? Well, let's go mountain
bike backpacking on the Boundary Trail.
It
was many years ago that I first rode the Boundary trail. With
family, friends and cheap hardtail bikes, every trip featured
at least a half dozen flats and multiple repairs of other necessary
components. But somehow we always made it work. There was always
adventure. We never shied away from that.
Now fast forward 15 years later. We all have great
bikes now. My twin brother Josh and Aunt Jenny, both familiar
faces in those long-ago adventures, were being joined by me.
As for the plan. It was awesome. For many years
we'd wanted to mountain bike backpack. Taking our lightest
gear, we parked a car at Elk Pass and Curly Creek. I know, it's
not a well known area, so don't be worried if you don't
have a clue where this is. Think of the region that is between
Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams in Southern Washington State.
The shortest route possible is about 40 miles. Our hope was to
extend this.
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Starting out at Elk Pass we wound our way up steep
trail. Progress was going well until Badger Lake. That's
when we were faced with snow. Not just 'snow', but
a snowpack. To us the shortest way is not back to the car. Our
ride wraps around very close to the summits of Badger Peak (5,664'),
Shark Rock (5,296') and Craggy Peak (5,725'). The
'snow' was not going to go away anytime soon.
But that's what makes an adventure!
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Setting off into the snowfields, we pushed our
bikes along. At times we had to search hard for the trail. In
places it melted out enough to ride for a short distance. Really
that depended on the aspect. The worst was when we had to crawl
over avalanche bent trees on steep switchbacks. There was some
cursing here.
[image]
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High meadows were full of avalanche lilly's
and lupin. Progress was slow, but it was being made. Eventually
we turned onto the Craggy Peak Trail. It was here that our hope
of extending our ride was dashed, but that wasn't going
to stop us from having fun. Every cut, bruise from every slip
and fall was a mix of laughs and, well, more cursing of course.
[image]
There were moments along the Craggy Peak Trail
where finding the trail was a real challenge. At a few points
I was seriously asking, "Hey guys, maybe we should have
brought our skis?"
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Near Wright Meadows we found a nice camp saddled
between a dry river bed and a running stream. It was perfect.
Best of all - no bugs!
That night we enjoyed a nice fire, a small dinner
and a big moon.
The next morning I awoke long before the others.
With my camera I set off to take images. Having no schedule was
thanked for. I rarely have that. I played with different images
and experimented with the light while photographing monkey flowers,
bear grass and lupin.
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Once my brother and aunt awoke, we quickly set
off. The downhill was awesome. Did I say awesome. So sorry, I
really meant that it was AWESOME! Okay, now that I have that out
of the way, you can imagine the miles and miles and miles of AWESOME
trail.
[image]
At the junction of the Wright Meadows Trail and
the Lewis River trail, we had descended 4000 feet. Snow was no
longer a problem. What was a problem was the views of giant trees,
carpeting ferns, hanging moss and the spectacular river. Progress
was slowed, but honestly, we didn't care.
There are several waterfalls, but lower falls
takes the cake for me, especially when I saw a group of young
guys cross the river and stand atop one of the outcroppings of
rock in the middle of the waterfall. They were planning to jump.
When they did, I rushed to get my camera lenses changed and capture
a few images. Yeah...awesome...or rather, excuse me - AWESOME.
[image]
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The riding over the remaining 14 miles is a mix
of spectacular cross country trail. It's smooth. There are
sections of uphill where you have to push your bike, but almost
all of the trail from there on out is ridable.
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So that's it. Our mountain bike backpacking
adventure came to an end when we cruised out to Curly Creek and
arrived back at Jenny's truck. "How great was that,"
I shouted to the others. We all agreed that it was an adventure.
But adventure is good. Our satisfaction was enjoyed while sitting
on the tailgate and enjoying cold drinks.
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God I love summer!
|
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Gelai Volcano from the Maasai Village of Gelai
[image]
I was sitting in my cubicle one lazy November day and received an email from Laura Newman, asking if I wanted to take her spot on an upcoming Africa ultra bagging trip (ultra = peak with > 5000 ft of topographic prominence). I couldn't recognize any of the proposed peaks and I knew none of the attendees. I sat on it for a while then came to the realization that I may never get another opportunity to climb such obscure, prominent peaks. I got the okay from my manager and jumped on board. The leader of the group was Rob Woodall, a name I vaguely recalled, most likely from online trip reports. I would later learn that Rob is one of the most active worldwide ultra peak baggers.
To prepare for my trip, I got a series of vaccination shots, including hepatitis, MMR, Typhoid and probably several others. My doctor prescribed malaria vaccines in tablet form. Asaka really wanted to go, but she didn't have health insurance, and getting vaccinated out of pocket would be very expensive. It was a tough decision, but I had no choice except to leave her at home for the trip. After the trip, I knew I made the right decision because she wouldn't have enjoyed the trip. I promised her that we would go back to Tanzania together for Kilimanjaro and Meru.
The day finally came. I boarded my plane in San Francisco and flew down to Los Angeles via Delta Airlines. After a short layover, I boarded a KLM flight and flew to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, we flew 10 more hours until finally landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport. I waited in the slow moving visa line with no bathroom in sight, making for an unpleasant hour. When I finally made it to baggage claim, one of my bags was missing. Included in this bag were my hiking boots, medicine and cash. It was panic time, but worrying just worsened the situation. I met a driver who drove me to Arusha, where I met Rob at the Korona House. He was relaxing in the room while the others were asleep. The window was wide open and I was paranoid of mosquitoes. He claimed he hadn't seen one all night, and seconds later a mosquito flew into the room. As if my stress wasn't high enough... Rob did confirm that he had an extra pair of boots I could borrow, and thankfully his shoe size was close enough to mine.
The next morning we had breakfast outside where I met Adrian and Martin for the first time.
[image]
The plan for the day was to drive into town and gather some last minute essentials. I had everything needed for hiking, and while my bag was still missing, the airport confirmed they would deliver the bag to my hotel when it arrived. In the long run, this actually was not possible, considering I would be in rural villages over the next few days, but the faint hope of reuniting with my stuff did something to ease my stress. The group spent the next hour or so looking for a SIM card. I already had international data, so I had nothing to do. I passed the time watching several Arussie carry a large telephone pole through a skinny alley.
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I watched various chicken vendors who kept their birds inside woven baskets. The chicken couldn't escape the basket on their own, but the vendor could easily grab them and push them through the gaps in the webbing. I declined the dozens of street vendors who approached me with bracelets and other trinkets. Each of them gave me a different explanation for what the colors represented on the bracelet. Finally the others returned and we began our trip north along A104 in our Land Cruiser. We drove by Mt Meru on our way to Longido. The summit of the 14er was blocked by perennial clouds.
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We stopped in Londigo for lunch, where we had plain sandwiches, unseasoned fried chicken and some bottled Coke.
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Behind the town was Mount Longido, a very prominent peak which I would like to climb some other day.
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From Longido we followed dirt roads to the village of Gelai. Not more than 15 minutes after leaving Longido we encountered our first animals. I was surprised to see so many large animals so far away of the Serengeti.
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There were giraffes, zebras, antelope and even a kori bustard. About 40 miles away from Longido, Gelai Volcano came into view. It probably could have been visible from much further away if the air quality had been more clear.
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After hours of driving we arrived at Gelai Village. It was a small town with only several buildings. We dropped off our luggage in our very small room which contained 3 bunk beds. There was still plenty of time before dinner, and with nothing to do, we decided to take a walk up the nearby hill.
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As we approached, we wondered if the peak had at least 100 meters
(or 300 ft)
of prominence, so we took an elevation measurement at the key saddle and planned to compare this with the summit reading.
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We reached the base of the mountain after fifteen minutes and started the uphill portion. I did not have on proper shoes so my pace was limited. There were many thorny plants along the way which really did a good job of catching my clothes and even skin. The thorns were quite painful. The locals call this peak Peridot Hill because the canyon below is full of the precious stones. Tanzanite, another precious gem, is only found in Tanzania, showing how mineral rich the land is.
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The summit was surrounded by a circular man made wall a brush. I've seen similar structures on television; Maasi warriors make these for protection from predators at night. Even a hungry lion doesn't want to go through these painful thorns.
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To the north was Gelai Volcano.
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To the west were Ol Doinyo Lengai and Ker Massi, two prominent volcanoes which I badly want to climb in the future.
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We took another elevation reading and found that the peak indeed has over 100 meters of prominence. I was happy we made the effort, and we descended back down towards the town below.
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Our guide Jeff took us on a detour. We stopped by a Maasai dwelling where we met a small family.
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They appeared to be goat herders, and welcomed us into their home.
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They showed us the precious minerals from the nearby canyon. I know nothing about precious stones so I declined purchasing anything.
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Staying with the famous Maasai warriors was a very amazing experience, and everything felt very authentic until they pulled out the bracelets from Arusha and began trying to sell this to us. Rob had too much of a heart and ended up buying one. We walked back to the main part of town before dusk, leaving Peridot Hill behind.
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Jeff prepared dinner back at the house. He did a very good job preparing food with the ingredients he had available.
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The Englishmen were crazy about their tea and couldn't stop drinking it. It was 85 degrees even after dark, but drinking boiling water didn't seem to bother them. There was a bathroom in a separate building, and every time I used it a new friend would join; whether it be a lizard, toad, spider or cockroach. As I walked to and from the bathroom, a Maasai child would sit quietly in the dark. This caught me by surprise and frightened me several times. When it was bed time it was hard to sleep. I put the mosquito net over my body which made me feel constricted. The temperature never cooled off, and I spent the whole night sweating, tossing and turning in the dampened sheets. The others made many noises in their sleep and their smell was amplified in the small quarters. Jet-lag also didn't help my situation; I did everything I could to mentally get through the night.
The next morning it was time to finally hike. We had breakfast and of course more tea, then jumped in the Land Cruiser and began our drive up the 4x4 road.
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The road was extremely rough and deeply rutted in places. I definitely couldn't manage this road with my Jeep back home, but the Land Cruiser had few challenges. We passed by several dik-diks, which are the smallest species of antelope. They are one of the few monogamous creatures in the animal kingdom, and if their significant other dies, they will commit suicide by giving themselves up to one of the carnivorous predators.
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We ran into a little bit of a traffic jam along the way.
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We drove so far up the mountain that I became concerned we would have nothing left to hike. As we approached our starting point, two hyenas sprinted across the road. No one told me that there would be hyenas in the area. I was aware of the Cape buffalo, which are considered the most dangerous animal in the area, but I was not okay with the carnivores. While the road continued, the Land Cruiser could not make it up a slippery, steep portion of the road. We reversed back down the road and parked at a flat spot. In addition to Jeff, our local guide from Gelai named Khalifa planned to join us.
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Prior to the trip, Rob confirmed that our guides would be armed. When we started hiking, I found Khalifa to be armed with nothing more than a walking stick. I felt sick to my stomach. Jeff pointed down at the partial print of one of the hyenas. Khalifa and Jeff explained that the hyenas would most likely not bother us. The only animal of concern was buffalo.
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Down below to our northwest was Lake Natron.
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We followed the main road as it continued through the shrubs. I felt that as long as I stayed in the middle of the pack, I would have the highest chance of surviving a hyena attack. The golden rule is you don't have to outrun the hyena; you just have to outrun the slowest person in the group.
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We heard something large moving through the vegetation up the hill. Khalifa turned to me and with a very concerned look on his face he whispered "boo-fa-low." The locals treat the Cape buffalo with a great deal of respect.
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They were a good distance away, but we could clearly see buffalo stampeding through the brush.
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We cautiously watched as they ran across the road, seemingly unaware of our presence. Once the coast was clear, we continued following the road. Khalifa and I took the lead, and I was surprised when a Maasai warrior caught up to us from behind.
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He had a spear, so I felt it was in my best interest to hike with him. He didn't speak English, but seemed very friendly. I offered him some extra water and he gladly accepted.
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We could see the very young volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai through the haze to the southwest.
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To the south was Ketumbeine Volcano, which we planned to climb the following day.
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Gelai is a shield volcano, so the ascent was very gradual. The western crater rim stood ahead of us.
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We reached a flat spot and across a shallow valley was a herd of wildebeest.
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Further up the ridge from the wildebeests, Jeff pointed out a hunting structure. It seems that hunting expeditions in this area are more popular than hiking expeditions.
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I asked Jeff what animal was hunted from that hut, and he replied lion. At first I thought that was interesting, but then my brain started functioning; that meant lions must live in the immediate area. I then remembered that no one in our group was armed, which led me to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I asked Jeff if he was scared of lions. He responded no, and told me that the only large cat that he was afraid of was jaguars because they like to hide out of sight and ambush their prey. I asked Jeff if Jaguars lived on Gelai, and he said of course. What I once envisioned as an alpine mountaineering trip had turned into a fate tempting stroll of peril. With big cats on the mind, we approached an overgrown section of the road. This was the perfect place for a lurking jaguar.
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I tiptoed through the thick brush, wondering what defense mechanism evolution had gifted me with to protect me from an untamed beast. As we reached the end of the dense region, a large animal exploded out of the brush and ran in front of us. To our relief, it was only a dik-dik.
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We continued along the two-track towards the gap in the crater ridge above.
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Rob, who is also a birder, took the opportunity to view several species unique to Africa through his binoculars, verifying each sighting with his birding book.
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We were greeted with a grassy pasture upon entering the crater. Here Khalifa expressed his concern for buffalo. They typically like to graze in this area, but there were none today. It was clear that the cape buffalo is the most feared animal in the bush, even more than the king of the jungle.
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We walked around the contour of the crater, eventually hitting a patch of of washa washa, also known as the Maasai Stinging Nettle (urtica massaica). The nettle induced a sharp, painful stinging sensation, followed by an intense tingling sensation, just from lightly brushing up against the plant. I had to carefully watch my step. Meanwhile, our Maasai warrior waltzed right through the washa washa as if it was nothing. At a fork in the road, he took a right and continued towards a high camp, while we veered to the left towards the summit.
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There was no washa washa in this grassy meadow, but we were on high alert for buffalo. Just off the path was a bull carcass.
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Rather than worry about what killed the bovine, we took this as a photo opportunity.
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I would learn later on in the trip that the cattle in this region are very different than the ones back home. Even the females have large horns. There are also other species of cattle with large humps. We continued along the grassy section toward the northern edge of the crater.
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The road continued back down the northern side of the mountain. We left the road here and headed towards the summit tower up above.
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We only had 300 feet remaining, however much of the remaining off road portion was through washa washa. I had gaiters protecting my lower legs, but my bare knees suffered a direct assault from thousands of stinging hairs. We used a maze of buffalo trails to navigate through the flora, hoping the trail's architects weren't lying around the corner.
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The washa washa seemed to never end. Every few minutes I would check my GPS, dismayed to see almost zero progress. All things come to an end, and eventually we were out of the washa washa and into a forest.
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We exited the forest and entered a clearing with the radio tower.
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Only a few meters away back in the forest lay the high point.
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Within a minute we were standing on top of the true summit. The summit was completely forested and there wasn't even a good place to sit. Regardless, we were happy to be standing on top, alive.
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There was one opening through the branches and vines, but the sky was too hazy to make out any landmarks.
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We ate our packed lunches in the shade. Even though the hike was short, I was tired from the humidity and jet lag. Hoping to get a view, I climbed up the radio tower in the summit clearing.
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I could have climbed higher, but the tower didn't feel very stable. Also, if I were to fall, I would definitely break several bones, and I wasn't sure if this region had the proper infrastructure or medical expertise to properly treat me. Again, the views were limited due to the poor air quality. The only other peak I could make out was Ketumbeine.
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I was eager to get back to the village before any apex predators could become aware of my presence. We walked back through the forest and at a clearing we could see Lake Natron below.
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We again had to walk though the minefield of washa washa. Upon closer inspection, the true weapons can be seen on the stems. Jeff told me that the buffalo eat the washa washa and go crazy, which is a good enough explanation for why they are so mean and aggressive.
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Once through the agonizing stretch, we were back on friendlier grasses. Scouting ahead, we could see no buffalo in the field below.
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Returning was a simple task; we just had to follow the road back down to the car.
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The hike took only 5 hours and was not so difficult. The total elevation gain was only about 2,300 ft and the round trip distance was 7 miles. Upon reaching the car, the day was still not over. The drive down to the village was very slow, and we stopped several times to talk with the locals. Our guides were speaking in Swahili, so it was impossible for us to know what they were talking about, but the length of each conversation seemed unnecessary and our group became impatient, especially those in the back without windows.
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We finally got to the outskirts of Gelai Village, where we were stopped by a police officer. I felt very nervous because I wasn't sure if this cop was legit, and there was nowhere to run and hide if things went south. What ended up happening was an hour long argument between our guides and the officer. Apparently, we failed to check in at the office the day before, but our guides couldn't do so since the offices were closed on Sunday. Our guides had to bribe the officer with cash (luckily none of ours) just so he would leave us be. By the time we got back to the village, I was even more exhausted, but with all the humidity, creepy crawlies and lack of comforts that I am used to back home, I could not recover that evening. Our guides decided to spend another night at Gelai Village, which was good news because the original plan was to camp. This decision was made for safety reasons. We were not so far from Serengeti National Park, and animals don't abide by human borders. I would not have felt comfortable sleeping with so many nocturnal predators nearby. The primary danger seemed to be hyenas, so we slept again in our small, smelly room, with our sights now set on our second Tanzanian objective; Ketumbeine
|
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iceberg peak
iceberg peak - 11,552' - class 2august 2014
This is a quick trip I did solo and was amazed at how much ground I covered in a short amount of time. The trip started the first Wednesday in August when I rented a nice mountain bike in Red Lodge, drove over the Beartooth Pass to Cooke City and parked at the Goose Lake 2WD parking area. I then biked/walked up the Goose Lake 4WD road passing by many nice lakes in the process. Although I was on a bike, and walking more than half of it due to the large boulders all over the road, I was keeping pace with a group of ATV's ahead of me. I continued pas them and went all the way to the wilderness boundary where I parked the bike and started hiking on the trail to Goose Lake. This large lake is spectacular and reminded me of the area around Shelf and Moon Lakes.As the sun was setting, I reached the broad saddle between Iceberg Peak and Sawtooth Mountain where the official trail ends. I then started looking for a nice place to camp so I continued down the other side a ways, crossing a mellow permanent snowfield and heading towards the remnants of the Grasshopper Glacier. The only ice left was just north of the saddle between Iceberg Peak and Mount Wilse. A new lake has also formed and I found a nice grassy patch about 50 feet above the lake with an excellent view of the west face of Glacier Peak. An awesome looking couloir was clearly visible on the north face of Iceberg Peak that I noted as a possibly early season route.The last rays of sun glowing on the clouds was beautiful and by dark, my tent was set and I quickly went to sleep. Waking the next morning, I was up and moving at 6am. Although I was hoping to get to the summit of Glacier Peak, I needed to be back in Red Lodge around noon so I instead hiked up Iceberg Peak right from the broad saddle at the end of the trail. It wasn't much more than a class 1+ hike really. The west ridge from the saddle only rose 800 feet and was standing on top in less than 30 minutes. Views of Glacier and Granite Peaks and the Western Beartooths were spectacular. The banner above shows the Western Beartooths, none of which I have even been close to as none of them rise to 12,000 feet. Hopefully sometime I can venture over there as well.After a quick hike down I shot some amazing reflection panorama photos of Goose Lake and reached my bike. I had to walk it up the short hill and passed by a couple people on ATV's and horses. From the top of the hill, I was able to ride 90% of the road back down to my car. That was a strenuous ride though as I could have easily crashed multiple times. I reached the car I think at 10am, covering a total of 17-18 miles in basically one day.
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Long Lake from the Goose Lake jeep road
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Perfect place to camp
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Sunset from my tent
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North side of Iceberg Peak from my camp
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Sunrise on Sawtooth Mountain
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Sawtooth Mountain reflection in Goose Lake
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Mount Wilse and the lake below the Grasshopper Glacier
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Sunrise view near the summit
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Sawtooth Mountain
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Iceberg Peak summit view with Goose Lake on the left
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Goose Lake reflection panorama
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Close-up of the north couloir on Iceberg Peak
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Mount Zimmer from Iceberg Peak in early July of a different year - Photo by Bob
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Frozen Goose Lake in July of a different year - Photo by Bo
|
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"category": "lake",
"relatedActivity": "not activity related"
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"name": "Goose Lake",
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"name": "Iceberg Peak",
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Ruby (Ranked) Roundup (~30mi, ~12k gain, 16h15)
Posted on
September 20, 2016
|
Leave a comment
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Pigeon and Turret from the Animas
Pigeon and Turret are the most visible peaks from Highway 550 of the Needles subrange of the San Juans. They were also the two most interesting peaks remaining to me on the list of Colorado's highest 100. Doing them as a dayhike involves a long approach via Purgatory Creek and the Animas River, which I had done before to access the Chicago Basin 14ers. While Pigeon and Turret by themselves would be a "big" day by normal standards, I thought of my recent too-easy day on Rio Grande Pyramid, and of the Evolution traverse, and decided to aim higher. Looking at the topo, it seemed possible to start at Pigeon, traverse east to North Eolus (an unranked 14er, i.e. one with less than 300 feet of prominence), then continue west around the north end of Ruby Creek to either Animas or Peak Fourteen. Unfortunately the map is not the terrain, and I did nothing like this traverse. Still, in a bit over 16 hours I managed to tag Pigeon, Turret, Fifteen, Sixteen, Monitor, Thirteen, and Animas. I skipped the ranked Peak Twelve because it was not labeled on my USGS map (oops!), North Eolus because I needed water, and Little Finger and Index because they are both unranked and hard by their easiest routes.
I woke up at my quiet Pole Creek campsite at 3:00, drove over to the residential Purgatory trailhead, and was on my way by headlamp at 3:30 AM. The nighttime commute down from Purgatory and up the Animas was quiet and nostalgic; I should have put DJ Dan back in my musical rotation for the experience. I reached the Needle Creek sign in just over two hours, then continued north into new terrain, past the three shacks and dozen or so "Private Property" signs that make up Needleton, looking for the unofficial Ruby Creek trail.
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Dense vegetation along North Pigeon Creek
I passed a tent in the first meadow, then the trail disappeared in the second. I knew I wanted to go northwest, so I searched around the north and west sides of the meadow for the trail's continuation. It turns out that the trail exits the southwest corner, but I didn't find it, so I continued in the direction I wanted through open woods, following a sporadic line of reflective thumbtacks stuck in trees. Maybe this was the "trail?" I eventually lost whatever I was following, and simply made my diagonally, then straight uphill on the south side of North Pigeon Creek on faint game trails. After a bit of 4th class ugliness and brush, I stumbled upon the obvious trail a few minutes below where it crosses the creek.
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Sunrise on West Needles
The most direct approach to Pigeon leaves the Ruby Creek trail to follow the north side of North Pigeon Creek, climbing about 2,000' to the flat meadow due west of the peak. Guessing that the crest of the next ridge north of the creek would have the easiest terrain, I found a faint trail and the occasional cairn leading uphill. The cairns were frequent enough to be reassuring, but not enough to follow; as with many wooded ridge routes, this one would be harder to find on the way down. Climbing through the woods, I though of the Cascadian nature of the day so far: a long commute along a valley trail, then 5,500' of elevation gain in 2 linear miles on a climbers' trail.
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Pigeon from the west
Finally emerging into the meadow, I was surprised to see a man in a yellow jacket making his way along Pigeon's base. I assumed our paths would converge on the northwest face, but I lost track of him shortly after spotting
another
figure on the grassy class 2 slope above me. He was moving quickly, and I only caught him just below the north ridge and the final class 3-4 scramble. He turned out to be an Asian man from back east, camping out for a week and hoping to clean out the Needles' 13ers and 14ers. He had chosen the state's best mountains, and the best time of year to visit them, but unfortunately the weather was uncooperative, with intermittent showers forecast for the rest of the week. I was glad to be dayhiking.
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Pigeon from SE
We spoke for a few minutes on Pigeon's summit, then I tried to downclimb a gully directly to the Pigeon-Turret saddle. After some easier going, things turned steeper and chossy, on some uniquely horrible Needles rock: sharp, marble-sized gravel barely held together by I-don't-know-what, whose surface disintegrates at a touch. I downclimbed past a couple nests of rap-tat then, chastened, returned to the standard route. Passing the Asian man again, I side-stepped and boot-skied down around Pigeon's west face, then circled around to reach the saddle on easy grassy slopes from the southwest. Looking back, I saw that it was probably possible to climb Pigeon directly from the southeast by a convoluted class 4-5 path (the first ascent was from this side). Indeed, the traverse between Pigeon and North Eolus would be easier from east to west, going up rather than down the most convoluted choss.
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Turret from Fifteen
I continued up the easy class 2 route to Turret, then spent a minute eyeing the descent to the saddle with Peak Fifteen. It looked like it would go on the south side, so off I went. This proved to be the day's crux: though the climbing was mostly class 2-3, and never harder than ~5.4, most of it was on outward-sloping gravel and rock that wanted to become gravel, demanding constant paranoia. I passed a bit more rap-tat and a fixed nut near the crux, eventually reaching the saddle.
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Fifteen from Sixteen
Looking down the gullies to either side, I saw that the north was near-vertical, the south steep and loose. The only way out was up and over. Fortunately, the rock quality suddenly and dramatically improved, and I had little trouble reaching Peak Fifteen's summit. I signed the register (hi, Andrew!), then descended the standard route toward the Fifteen-Sixteen saddle. The rock quality again turned awful, but this was less steep than the descent off Turret. I passed a couple nests of rap tat near the ridge, then reached a similar saddle: vertical north, chossy south, better rock to the east.
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Sixteen is steep on the north side!
Just as I began the short climb to Peak Sixteen, I heard a shout behind me, and saw a man (probably the one in yellow I saw earlier) climbing up the south gully toward Fifteen's standard route. After a short, shouted conversation and some unhelpful advice on my part, I scrambled up Sixteen on some fun, reasonably solid class 4. I looked over toward the saddle with North Eolus, but things looked complicated and likely to turn bad, so I decided to retrace my steps and contour around below Sixteen's south ridge.
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Little Finger and Eolus
The man on Fifteen had found a route well left of the one I used which seemed to go, though he managed to break off a pretty impressive rockfall into the gully I was about to use. The gully itself was less chossy than I had feared, and I had relatively little trouble traversing to the North Eolus saddle. I eyed Little Finger in passing - it is indeed short, and looked doable - but I still had quite a bit of work to do on the other side of the valley.
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Animas, Thirteen, Monitor
At this point I abandoned the traverse, dropping down to Ruby Creek for water instead of continuing over North Eolus and Twelve. The first part of the descent was a quick scree-ski along a goat-track. Lower down, I exited right for fear of cliffs and/or ice in the chute. This was probably a mistake, as the gully looked manageable in late season from below, and I had to deal with a bit of sketchy awkwardness to reach the valley floor.
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Jagged to Sunlight ridge
Since I was no longer traversing, I took more or less the standard route up Monitor's west face. The view across Noname Creek to Jagged and its long connecting ridge with Sunlight was impressive, as was the view of the strangely-disconnected Arrow and Vestal to the north. The Jagged area again reminded of the Sierra, with the large Lake 12,552', light-colored rock, and a mixture of turf and slabs.
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Thirteen and Monitor from Animas
The ridge down to the saddle with Peak Thirteen was another sketchy choss-fest, but I was used to that by now, and my sixth sense for choss solidity was working well. The rock fortunately improved on the class 3-4 climb up Thirteen's east side, and the descent toward Animas was straightforward. I found a few cairns on the way up Animas, and the Summitpost printout in the register canister confirmed my plan of descent.
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Spiteful cliffs below Animas
I returned to the first saddle east of Animas, then scree-skied quickly down most of the thousand feet to the grass below. Thinking I was basically home, I unfortunately strayed a bit too far right, and had to deal with another 50-foot rotten downclimb to reach easy ground. I made my way down mostly easy grass and slabs, with only about 50 years of vicious bush-whacking to reach the "trail" below.
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View from Ruby Lake
While easy enough to follow, I found the Ruby Creek trail both long and surprisingly brushy higher up. However, I was still feeling fresh, and the striking views ahead to the West Needles, and behind to the craggy south side of Ruby Creek, kept my mind occupied. I eventually reached the two meadows near the Animas, and saw that the guy I met on Peak Fifteen had not yet returned to his camp. Hopefully he did not have too long a day.
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Lliving llamas
I removed my pant legs, then fortified myself with Pop-tarts and Ibuprofen for the long run home. I passed some campers and a herd of grazing (i.e. not dead) llamas near Needleton, then started jogging. I felt freakishly fresh on the net-downhill trail, covering the seven miles to Purgatory Creek in about an hour. I had expected to do this section at night, and was pleased both to have easier daytime running, and to see the sunset on Pigeon and Turret behind me. It took another hour to climb from the Animas to the trailhead, with only the last 5-10 minutes by headlamp. I hadn't found the elegant traverse I had hoped, but it had still been a satisfying day.
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Dense vegetation along North Pigeon Creek
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Sunrise on West Needles
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Pigeon from the west
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Turret and 14ers from Pigeon
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Toward Purgatory from Pigeon
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Animas 5500 feet below Pigeon
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Pigeon from SE
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Standard route traverse around Pigeon
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15, 16, etc. from Turret
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Tree just below Turret's summit
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Crux downclimb on Turret
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Turret from Fifteen
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Fifteen from Sixteen
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Sixteen is steep on the north side!
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Animas, Thirteen, Monitor
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Little Finger and Eolus
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Pigeon and Ruby Creek
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Jagged to Sunlight ridge
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Sunlight, Windom... Eoluses
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Little Finger, Sixteen, Fifteen, Turret, Pigeon
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Animas and Thirteen from Monitor
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Looking down Ruby Creek
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Arrow, Vestal, Trinity
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Thirteen and Monitor from Animas
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Spiteful cliffs below Animas
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Ruby Creek cirque
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View from Ruby Lake
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Lots of asters again
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Lliving llamas
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Pigeon and Turret from the Animas
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Parting view of Pigeon from Purgatory Creek
This entry was posted in Colorado, Type II fun. Bookmark the permalink
|
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] |
Cirque of Towers
Aug
2
kyle
[image]
Pingora, NE Face (5.8+); Wolf's Head, E Ridge (5.6); Haystack, Minor Dihedral (5.9)
I am not sure when I first saw of the photo of the Cirque of Towers in Wyoming's Wind River Range. I do know that it was long before I was a rock climber and long before I met Kylie. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a few cams, a talented and committed partner, and found myself headed towards the Cirque. Were we ready? Well, if nothing else, two weeks of starving on the Sierra High Route left us ready to return to the vertical realms and there is possibly no better place to do that than the Wind River Range.
Table of Contents
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Day 1: Hiking into the Cirque
Day 2: Pingora, NE Face (5.8+)
Day 3: Wolf's Head, E Ridge (5.6), hike to Clear Lake
Day 4: Haystack Mountain, Minor Dihedral (5.9)
Day 5: Haystack Mountain, North Face (5.6), hike out
Day 1: Hiking into the Cirque
We had a late night driving in to the trailhead all the way from Reno the night before. There were hundreds of crazy suicide bunnies bounding across the dirt road at 11 pm at night, but I think I managed to avoid all of them in the minivan. So we slept in before packing our stuff in the late morning.
In the morning, we walked around the parking lot, which was filled with hundreds of cars. We counted only a handful of Wyoming license plates. Most of the cars were from the Midwest. Apparently the Winds are some of the first real mountains Midwesterners hit as they drive west so they flock here.
The trail to Big Sandy Lake was quite boring honestly. We did pass a NOLS outdoor group on their way out. They had spent three weeks in the Deep Lake area learning to trad climb and multipitch. They reported perfect, storm-free weather and awful mosquitoes. Our experience would turn out to be the exact opposite.
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Haystack Mountain and Big Sandy Lake.
After Big Sandy Lake, we climbed up to Jackass Pass. We started to pass under steep, overhanging rock towers. The trail was a little bouldery in places but still a good trail by climbers' standards. After cresting Jackass pass, we got our first view of the Cirque of Towers, and it was mesmerizing.
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Pingora and Wolf's Head loom large in the Cirque of Towers.
Everything was lush and green, with clean granite walls rising all around us. The immensity and sheerness of the big walls were unlike anything we had ever seen in an alpine environment. We took our time wandering through the flowing streams before finding a campsite in the idyllic valley. Despite the area's popularity with climbers, there were not an abundance of established campsites. There were, however, an abundance of sticks hanging off tall boulders to act as bear bag hangs.
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Flowing meadow in the Cirque of Towers.
It was a relaxing afternoon and an early bedtime in preparation for our next big day. We made great use of the huge bottle of moisturizing lotion that we brought along. It was much needed after the wetness of the Sierra High Route destroyed our feet.
Day 2: Pingora, NE Face (5.8+)
We awoke around 4:30 in the morning to get an early start. We knew there was a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms and that this was a long, popular route, so we wanted to be climbing at first light. We hiked through open trees towards the east face of Pingora, staying high and crossing over some boulder fields.
We had read that the start of the route followed some ramps in from the right to the obvious crack system, but being so close beneath the face in the darkness, we had trouble seeing. We saw a rope dangling down mysteriously from the face and scrambled up towards it. However, it did not seem like the start of the route, so we backtracked downwards. Suddenly, I just stumbled upon a Black Diamond Ultralight C4 0.75! We had gotten some other booty nuts throughout the summer, but this was truly striking gold!
Slowly, the sun began to come up, and we realized we need to work around right around the face further to the north. We spotted the ledge system and began climbing up. Lonesome Lake looked peaceful in the pre-dawn light.
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Sunrise on Mitchell Peak with Lonesome Lake beneath.
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At the base of the NE Face of Pingora.
We began traversing over to the first pitch at the same time that two other boys our age were there. We were all perplexed when we came to an exposed face traverse right before the base of the route! Kylie and I ended up getting ahead, finding some awkward 5.8 face traverse that we were able to sort of protect. The technical difficulties of just this "approach pitch" were indicative of the rest of the climb. We were not climbing in the Sierras anymore!
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Looking up the arcing layback crack on the first pitch of the NE Face of Pingora.
The first pitch was a long dihedral that slowly got steeper. As it got steeper, the rock also got slicker, polished from all the foot traffic over the years. Carrying the full pack for the two of us, I was starting to feel it. The Sierra High Route had left me out of climbing shape and weak. After maybe 50 ft of straight 5.7 lieback, I was worked! My legs were trembling out of exhaustion, but I managed to jam my body into the dihedral and find a rest. Wind River Range "5.7" was going to be tough!
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Towards Warbonnet Peak from Pingora.
As we began to embrace the burly nature of the climbing here, the next pitches went smoother. It was still steep climbing, with few opportunities for breaks. Except for some polished sections, the rock quality was immaculate! I never once questioned my holds or gear. The routefinding was also pretty straightforward since usually the alternatives looked 5.10+.
In another few pitches, we reached the crux 5.8+ off width. Kylie bravely took the pack for this pitch. With new found freedom, I led up the off width surprisingly easily. I think I place a single #2 and then simply squirmed my way up, feeling secure the whole way. No need for a #4 cam like people said!
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Crux 5.8+ off width crack on the left.
During the climb, Kylie had enjoyed talking to the two college-aged boys behind us. Their leader had just free soloed Complete Exum on the Grand Teton, which was our next climb after the Cirque! It became quite clear to us later on that they were fully depending on us for the routefinding. On one pitch, there was a sharp face traverse right just before the belay. Their leader, seeing Kylie above him, tried to cut directly towards her, encountering scary 5.10 face climbing that he barely made it up!
For the final technical pitch, there was supposedly an "easy chimney", according to the topo. I wandered into a deep cavern and started up this ominous looking chimney. It definitely did not feel easy and there was no way to place gear inside. After leading nearly 1000 ft of relentless granite, I was getting pretty tired. I had trouble smearing my feet in the chimney and suddenly, everything slipped and I slowly cheese-gratered down the chimney back to the ledge 10 ft below. It was my first lead fall in the alpine ever and I did not even weight any gear! I took a little moment to regroup and then sent the chimney after much grunting and groaning. It was a fitting ending to this burly, strenuous route!
Kylie arrived at the top of the chimney similarly beaten and exhausted. A little bit of scrambling to the left brought us to the summit of Pingora. It felt like we were standing on a granite island looking out across the Cirque of Towers, surrounding us on two sides. The knife edge ridge of Wolf's Head, our goal for the next day, looked insane.
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The imposing view of the East Ridge of Wolf's Head.
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The Cirque of Towers, from Warbonnet to Bollinger.
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Admiring the Cirque of Towers.
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Hanging out on top of Pingora.
It was around 1 pm on a beautiful afternoon, and it appeared thunderstorms would not be an issue, which was great for the three slower parties behind us on route. We made a few rappels (fine with a single 60m rope) down the classic "K Cracks" or south buttress route. This route seems to be the Liberty Bell "Beckey Route" of the Wind River Range: a popular, easy first alpine climb for many.
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Looking up at the South Buttress of Pingora, which we rappelled down.
We followed a cool network of ledges back down to the Cirque Valley, where we washed off in a lovely little alpine waterfall. The meadows here were magnificent so we took some time to admire the flowers since we were barely 10 minutes away from camp at this point.
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Wonderful meadows in the Cirque.
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Kylie looking lovely in the Cirque of Towers.
After that, it was a restful afternoon back at camp. A moose even walked through our campsite!
Day 3: Wolf's Head, E Ridge (5.6), hike to Clear Lake
We got up early once again and hiked towards the upper lake on the approach to Wolf's Head. There are two approaches to the base: Tiger Tower and the grassy ledges. While "grassy ledges" may sound benign, they are apparently a nightmare when wet. We took this approach, weaving our way up fourth class ledges. It took a bit of route finding and a few exposed moves, but we got to the base of the E Ridge pretty quickly.
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A shadowy sunrise from the base of Wolf's Head.
We agreed that this would be Kylie's climb. She does great with exposure and adventurous leads. So we racked up and she started off across the incredible 2 foot wide knife edge ridge. The exposure on either side was at least 500 ft down to rock slabs. This section was barely climbing (more like scrambling) but exhilarating and truly a classic!
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Kylie leads the incredible knife edge that starts the east ridge of Wolf's Head.
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Kylie belays from the spine of Wolf's Head.
As I recall, there are four towers once on the ridge and you essentially weave between them, ducking through chimneys and holes along the way. Communication was definitely difficult here, but Kylie and I have a sixth sense for each other at this point. The second tower had this improbable looking face traverse that somehow went at 5.6. Great lead Kylie!
The only pitch I led was the bomber hand crack traverse. With perfect pulls and hand jams, I traversed a crack with my feet smeared on the wall beneath, looking down nearly 1000 ft to the base of the wall! This was one of the best pitches I have ever done.
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Kylie enjoys the exposure of the hand traverse on the east ridge of Wolf's Head.
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Kylie focuses on her footwork of the hand traverse on the east ridge of Wolf's Head.
During the entire route, we were just amazed at how the difficulty never exceeded 5.6. Many sections seemed so improbable, yet worked. It is one of the most unique routes I have ever climbed. Huge props to the first ascent party, who must have had the true spirit of adventure!
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Kyle squeezes through a tunnel near the end of the east ridge of Wolf's Head.
At the top, we got a different view of Pingora, Bollinger, and the Cirque of Towers. It was kind of hazy, possibly from wildfire smoke and high clouds.
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Bollinger Peak rises impressively over the Wind River Range.
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Kyle chilling on the summit of Wolf's Head.
Everyone warns about the descent of Wolf's Head, which is arguably longer than the climb itself. There were probably 5 rappels, a lot of traversing and scrambling, and some snow descent in the end. I think it did take about as long as the climb, but at least we felt it was pretty easy to follow if you just pay close attention to the beta.
Back at camp in the early afternoon, we packed up and headed over towards Haystack Mountain. After a little detour where we took the wrong trail, we reached the far end of Clear Lake around dinner time, finding a camp in the woods next to some beautiful granite waterslides. With two classics already sent, we were ready for Haystack the next day!
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Haystack Mountain from our camp next to a nice stream.
Day 4: Haystack Mountain, Minor Dihedral (5.9)
After a rainy night at camp, we woke up just before dawn. We were waking up about 30 minutes later each day, so the extra sleep was nice. It was a real short approach to Haystack, about 30 minutes of hiking through wet brush. We were worried that the rock will be wet after the rainstorm, but it seemed moderately dry.
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Temple Peak from the base of Haystack.
We traversed over onto the face, skipping the first three pitches, but few people actually do them. The rock quality seemed very similar to the Cirque, except less polished. The face had a very different quality than the Cirque though because it was so broad (probably one mile long!) and consistent.
The first pitch has the supposed "mental crux", a spooky 5.9 face move, but you are not far above your last piece of gear, so it was not bad. Some more quality climbing brought us to a "scoop" on the topo, a tricky traverse right, which Kylie handled well after some waffling. We were flying up the route. Some easier terrain led us up to the base of the namesake dihedral.
I launched into the 5.9 dihedral, full pack and all. I pulled out all the tricks, stemming, laybacking, jamming, and enjoying every pull. I think the classic 5.9 Dihedral route at Minnehaha in Spokane had prepped me for this. Although challenging for the grade, this 5.9 was still nothing compared to the Minnehaha Dihedral!
The Dihedral just kept on giving, and I kept on going. It was amazing! After maybe 100 ft of it, I decided I would make one more move before establishing a belay. My strength was running out and I suddenly found myself in a tough spot. I felt myself shaking, unsure of the next move. But then I realized how simple the next move was and told myself to trust my abilities and strength. I sent it. Kylie crushed it next.
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Kylie ascends the incredible Minor Dihedral!
The dihedral was not done, and the next pitch climbed more dihedral goodness before splitting into a twin crack system and finally some more substantial ledges. The last few pitches were supposedly easier and more ambiguous on the topo, but we still found ourselves pulling burly roofs. Physical climbing!
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Kyle nearing the top of Minor Dihedral on Haystack with Clear Lake below.
At the top of the route, we scrambled a little bit right to the true summit, which is little more than a bump on the ridge. Ominous storms clouds were beginning to build over the Cirque of Towers a few miles away.
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All smiles after a great climb of Haystack Mountain.
We descended the "Grassy Goat Ledges" a series of exposed, 4th class ledges that miraculously splits the vertical face. Since it was dry, it was pretty easy but we could imagine it might be terrifying in a rain storm. From the base, we could see some climbers climbing the "Railroad Tracks" route further up the face. Hopefully the storm would not get them!
On the hike back down to camp, we passed some dads and their sons playing around in the nice granite slab waterslides. The boys were sliding around, braver than we were. Literally two minutes after we arrived back and crawled into the tent, the storm hit. Hail pounded the ground and pretty quickly, streams were running underneath our tent, eroding away the soil with it. Such incredible timing once again! We snuggled and took a nap amidst the storm around us.
There was a break in the evening, but then once again rain throughout the night. Even though it rained seemingly every day in the Sierras, it never rained at night!
Day 5: Haystack Mountain, North Face (5.6), hike out
The rock was simply so good here that we felt like we had to do one more climb before heading out. We found the North Face on my MountainProject app and it seemed like a good half day climb. We woke up and hiked to the north shoulder of Haystack, getting absolutely soaked by brush and then frozen by a cold wind. We debated just heading down, but Kylie wanted to send one more climb and get some opportunities to lead, so we decided to go for it, puffies and all.
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Kylie leads the start of the North Face of Haystack.
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Looking down the north face of Haystack.
The climb was not anything notable, but still a fun 3 pitches on very good rock. At the top, we were able to find some wind protection and warm up our frozen hands. The descent was simple and then we hiked back down to camp. By then things were drying out and we were warming up.
A leisurely hike out brought us back to the car in the mid afternoon, escaping the thunderstorms just barely!
This was the best four days of alpine rock climbing we have ever done! We completed three four star routes and another fun shorter route. The accessibility, impeccable rock quality, and wonderful scenery make the Wind River Range truly a special place. It was awesome to have such a relaxing, perfect trip after the grueling Sierra High Route. It seemed everything went our way this trip, evading the storms, sending the routes, and even getting some climbing booty!
Notes:
Although Minor Dihedral (5.9) is rated higher than the NE Face of Pingora (5.8+), we felt Pingora was more sustained and overall more difficult. It is also polished in places, adding to the difficulty.
Although Cirque of Towers has the world famous routes, you should not pass on Haystack! Simple approaches and descents plus an amazing wall of granite would make it a classic if it was anywhere but next to the Cirque. Minor Dihedral was every bit as good as Pingora.
Compared to the Sierras, the grades here are much stiffer. The climbing is very physical and exhausting. Be prepared for extensive liebacks and finger cracks.
The E Ridge of Wolf's Head (5.6) is an amazing, adventurous route that is a must-do regardless of the grade you climb at. The descent is really not too bad if you just follow the beta.
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Yosemite's High Country: A Night at Evelyn Lake
Backpacking
National Parks
California
Oct 31
Written By Emily Schrick
After my thru-hike of the Colorado Trail, I was feeling kind of done with backpacking for the summer. But, I remembered that I was invited on a backpacking trip in Yosemite way earlier in the year for early September. Not wanting to renegade on plans, and always wanting to go to Yosemite, I re-packed my gear and drove to the mountains! I was meeting two brand new friends from a women's hiking group: another Emily and Sam! It can always be risky meeting people for a backpacking trip, but luckily these were some pretty cool gals and we got along really well, and had a great and relaxing time. The perfect way to wrap up the summer backpacking season!
Note: Included in this blog post are links to the Outdoor Status permit notification website. These are affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to participate in permit availability notifications. Thank you so much if you do use this service!
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Trail Info + Stats
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Where: Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne Meadows
Miles: 20
Elevation Gain/ Loss: 2,700 ft
Time to complete: 2 days
Trail Type: Loop
Permits Required: YES
Pets Allowed: NO
Trailhead: Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang
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All smiles soaking in Yosemite's beautiful high country!
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Itinerary & Trip Planning
The hike up to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp is a really wonderful trip. It is very mild climbing - don't let the above elevation profile fool you. This is the perfect trip for a beginner backpacker, because you'll fall in love with the high country and be itching to get back out there! If you're a runner or ambitious day hiker, this hike could definitely be done in a day as well.
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Direction?
I went counter-clockwise and I would recommend this direction. The views of the Vogelsang area are more stunning while you are hiking up from Rafferty Creek, and just get better and better as you go!
Permits
Obtain permits through recreation.gov. They are available via a lottery 24 weeks in advance of the date you would like to go. You can also get walk-up permits at a wilderness center in the park beginning one day before you'd like to start your trip.
Permits for Rafferty Creek and Lyell Canyon (the entry trailhead for the clockwise direction) are super popular, so be aware!
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The High Sierra Camp
Vogelsang has a High Sierra Camp, which is run by the Yosemite concessionaire, Aramark. This is a luxurious backcountry canvas tent retreat for paying guests, complete with pit toilets, wood burning fireplaces in the tent cabins, and a dining hall. Mules regularly carry supplies to the camp, and horses are common. In recent years, the camp has been closed. Flooding, high snow years, fires, and COVID have made the opening of these camps complicated, but when it is open, you could make a reservation to eat food here. You could also just pay to stay at the cabins too. To read about the camp and how to secure a reservation, which is separate from a wilderness permit, click here.
As a backpacker, you are not allowed to camp in the High Sierra Camp area. There is a backpacker's campground near Fletcher Lake, which is the closest you can camp to the area.
Seasonality
Vogelsang is most accessible in the summer months, when Tioga Road is open. By all means, if you are an experienced winter backcountry traveller, I'm sure this would be a fantastic spot! I would definitely love to ski tour in this area in the winter. But for the average user, June - October is the ideal time period. In a high snow year, expect snow in the area well into July. In an average or below average year, the trail will most likely be melted out by the end of June. Vogelsang is at 10,000 feet, so high enough to keep snow lingering around longer than Tuolumne Meadows, where you begin. July will be the best time for wildflowers and lush meadows, and the worst for mosquitoes. August should still have some greenery, but everything will start to brown by the end of the month. By September, Rafferty Creek could dry up, limiting your water sources, and meadows will be brown. Tioga Road closes to overnight parking on October 15th each year, effectively ending quick high country backpacking trips.
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Highlights
The Vogelsang area is truly spectacular. It is filled with tons of hidden gems and is just classic Sierra Nevada high country. Because there is so much to see here, it's honestly a disservice to only stay for one night! If I were to come back to this area (and I will), I would set up a basecamp for a few nights and do some exploring. Or possibly move camp some nights, too. Some places you'll definitely want to explore:
Evelyn Lake (this trip report)
Fletcher Lake
Vogelsang Lake
Vogelsang Pass
Emeric Lake
Boothe Lake
Ireland Lake
We chatted with a few different groups who were on their way down while we were hiking up and got different recommendations from all of them! Some people love Boothe Lake, one group loved Vogelsang Lake for camping, but one gentleman told us Evelyn was his favorite and he goes there frequently. So, we decided to camp at Evelyn Lake!
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Trip Report
We woke up bright and early at the Tuolumne Meadows backpackers campground, feeling pretty tired since there were groups that arrived very late at night and were kinda loud. But, we soldiered on, eating breakfast and packing our things up. To reduce the length of the hike a bit, we drove over to the wilderness center near the lodge and parked on the street over there. We immediately started on the John Muir Trail and walked through the woods, crossing the Dana Fork Bridge, then the Lyell Fork Bridge, and then the trail junction back to the campground. The Lyell Fork water level was so low, I had never seen the creek so empty!
After a little over a mile of easy hiking, we reached the junction for Rafferty Creek, and began our initial ascent. The trail climbed nicely graded switchbacks for a little bit until it eventually leveled out after about a half mile. Here is where we had some more views of the peaks in northern Yosemite and some smaller rock formations next to us. The trail closely follows Rafferty Creek here, but it was completely dry by early September. We wouldn't be able to get water until Fletcher Lake. The trail continues very gradually climbing for the next few miles. We took in the views of Fletcher Peak as we approached Tuolumne Pass, which is barely a noticeable pass. It was a beautiful area, and I look forward to seeing it lush, instead of dry and dead, next time.
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We passed the junction to detour to Boothe Lake, and decided to bypass the area, wanting to go to the high sierra camp area to eat lunch. That last mile seemed to drag on forever, as we were very hungry and so looking forward to sitting down and eating. We found a nice rock on the outskirts of camp and plopped down. A few other groups came up from behind us, and we chatted about our itineraries. After eating, we continued on towards Fletcher Lake, and walked over to the shores to take in the view of Fletcher Peak. It was super pretty, and I wish we ate our lunch over here instead! After taking some photos, we continued on, hiking through very gentle, but slightly uphill terrain towards Evelyn Lake. The views of the northern mountains were super gorgeous as we made our way over.
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Once Evelyn Lake was in view, we searched the western area of the lake for a campsite, but didn't see anything very nice or protected, so we walked back to the trail and continued to the east side. We were much more successful here, with plentiful camping in the stunted trees, with nice views of the peaks behind the lake. Evelyn Lake had such an inviting, sandy shore on this side, and we spent time hanging out and filtering water while another large group hiked up and claimed their spot. After socializing, admiring the sunset, and eating dinner, it was time to turn in for the night.
The next morning, we packed our things up and continued hiking toward Lyell Canyon. There was a tiny bit of climbing at the beginning of the day, but then we steeply descended through the woods down to the Lyell Fork and the JMT. On our descent, we saw a mother deer and her two sweet, spotted fawns, which were so dang cute! Once we got down to the canyon, it was basically a flat hike out along the creek back to the car.
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Joe Devel, Pickering
Posted on
September 23, 2011
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2 Comments
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It's possible to knock off a whole slew of peaks southwest of Whitney as a big traverse: Joe Devel, Pickering, Newcomb, Chamberlin, and Guyot. Some parts of the traverse are even supposedly fun class 3. After an attempt from the Whitney side via Arc Pass that ended with no energy and a long nap at Consultation Lake - not the worst place in the world for such a thing - I took another shot from Horseshoe Meadows. Secor suggests doing the traverse counterclockwise, from Joe Devel to Guyot, so I figured I would do that. Big mistake.
The first problem is how to get to Rock Creek at the base of Joe Devel's south slope. The options are either to go around via Cottonwood Pass or over one of the Army Passes. I chose the former on the way out, because it requires less elevation gain and may be slightly shorter. I was outraged to see an entire herd of cattle grazing below Cottonwood Pass. I know this is Forest Service "multiple abuse" land, but this was my first time seeing this form of water-contaminating abuse in the high Sierra.
Past the pass, it is a long but mostly pleasant hike along the west side of the crest, with good views of the Kaweahs and the peaks around Mineral King. The extended sections of deep sand for which the trail is known are mostly downhill. Moving at a fast walk, it was about 3 hours to where the route crosses Rock Creek at 10,500' for the 3000 foot climb up Joe Devel.
This climb turned out to be the kind of thing that makes you wonder why you're out there. At least 2000 feet of the climb is loose "kitty litter" sand, which feels slow even when it is not, while the rest is mostly big talus. This is topped off by a series of false summits. The views of the Kaweahs to the west and the rugged Corcoran ridge to the east are fine, but the climb had sapped much of my enthusiasm. This peak doesn't see much traffic, and I can see why.
After some loose side-hilling on the northwest side of Joe Devel, the traverse from to Pickering is just more big talus. After reaching this much more popular summit, I decided to call it a day, dropping south to Lake Erin and from there to Rock Creek. Not wanting to take the long sand traverse in the uphill direction, I chose the extra elevation gain and distance of Army Pass. I had never been on this side of the pass, and was pleasantly surprised to find a moderate climb on mostly well-compacted sand. I thought of heading down New Army Pass, but the absurdity of climbing an extra couple hundred feet quickly drove me down Old Army Pass. This last in the season the pass is completely snow-free, but the walk out to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead is as long as always.
If you do the traverse, do not start up Joe Devel. Most of the southwest slope, a slog going up would be a fast boot-ski on the way down. Also, expect a long day, particularly if you do tack on Guyot.
This entry was posted in California. Bookmark the permalink
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Andy Sherpa: 2015 ISMF World Championships: Sprint and Vertical Races
Andy Sherpa
A Journal of Adventure and Training in the Wasatch and Beyond
Saturday, February 7, 2015
2015 ISMF World Championships: Sprint and Vertical Races
Yesterday was a strange day for me. I was excited to line up for the sprint with a big goal of moving through the time trial round and into the quarter finals, which no US man has done previously. I also wanted to race as hard as I could and take some scalps along the way if possible.
The sprint race is 75-90 meters of vertical gain and consists of low angle skinning, kick turns, a boot pack, some more kick turns, and then a hairball downhill leading to a short skate to the finish. The rounds start with a time trial and the top 30 move on to heats of six with the top two from there moving on to semi finals and the top three from those heats to the final of six.
I had a fairly clean race during my time trial and was seeded 27th moving into the quarters. I felt recovered and strong. The start however, was disjointed and frantic as I was expecting a formal "track command start" but instead reacted to my fellow racers reacting to a sudden gun. No worries, I would just attack hard from the start, or so I thought. In reality, I pushed beyond my coordination and clumsiness won the day as I got tangled in a pole and went down hard, 20 meters from the start line. Any dream of moving on was now dashed as well as any realistic hope of beating one or two of the higher seeded Euros.
I got up, and heeded Sam Inouye's rallying cry of "Onward and upward!" I was able to make contact with one or two guys in some of the transitions but worked really hard to end up butt naked last in my heat. Again, or so I thought. As it turned out, one of the fellas just in front incurred some time penalties and I was moved to 5th in my heat and 24th overall.
I have learned a couple lessons here which are pretty obvious.
Overall, the US did well with Max Taam also finishing in the top 30 and the three women also making the quarter finals. The senior men's final was won by Robert Antonioli of Italy, followed by former world champion Josef Rottmoser of Germany, and a Swiss athlete took bronze. Also noteworthy was a really strong finish by Canadian friend Melanie Bernier, who took 5th.
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Chasing down a couple other athletes who started at 20 second intervals in front. In the USA suit is Matt Burgander who is a U23 racer and in the French suit is Letitia Roux, the female sprint champions and perennial favorite in all events. Photo by Jason Dorais
After the sprint, we laughed about how dumb I looked on the ground, shook it off a second time, and then went skiing. Verbier is absolutely stunning and could almost get me into riding lifts...at least to get out into the wild terrain beyond the ropes (although just about all the terrain within the ropes is also really wild).
Teague, Billy, JB, and I took the necessary series of gondolas to the top of Mont Fort to have a look around. Our minds were collectively blown.
The next day, we woke up early to try and catch the 7 AM train to head out farther beyond Mont Fort. We even ran to the train station so we wouldn't miss it. As it turns out, the first train from Martigny on Saturday departs at 8:24 AM. Plan B was a bus and Plan C was to hitch hike. After neither proved successful, we headed back to the hotel to eat breakfast again.
En route, we were stopped by a kind gentleman inquiring about our skis. We explained our deal, and after some pleasantries, he invited us to his house for tea. We walked across the street to a rather beautiful house, shared some tea and chocolate, and found out that we were sitting in the home of the former President of Switzerland, Pascal Couchepin. He talked to us about international politics, meeting the Clintons, Romney, Putin, and others.
With that as an interesting start to the day, we decided to try and go skiing a second time.
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We all got up early to catch the 7 AM train
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There is no 7AM train so we went to the bus station but there is no 7 AM bus. We tried to hitch hike and when that failed, went back to the hotel to rest. Instead we bumped into the former president of Switzerland, who invited us to his house for tea.
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Scott Simmons looking mighty fancy at the President's house
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Jason and Mr. Former President Pascal Couchepin
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Attempting to head out to ski for the second time
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If only we could read French this would be so much easier
We repeated the necessary lifts to the summit of Mont Fort where Jason, Scott, and Teague again took in the incredible views.
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The fellas nearing the summit of Mont Fort
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Jason on the summit of Mont Fort
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We skied off the back of Mont Fort and finally left the resort, although it's tracked like the Wasatch
From Mont Fort, we went on a mellow tour to a small peak called Rosablanche. While this drainage is mellow, we could see the Matterhorn and dozens or even hundreds of other inspiring peaks not too far in the distance.
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The avy danger is high enough to keep us off anything steep so we found perfectly flat terrain instead.
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The flat led to the gentle slopes of Rosablanche, a mellow classic tour from Verbier.
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The tour is mellow but the gnar isn't far away
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Dream lines for days
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Jason along the summit ridge of Rosablanche
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Big Teague topping out
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We skied out another valley and found this Dam line
We then rallied to the streets of Verbier where snow had been shoveled into the street for the start of the Vertical Race. This event is an uphill only race so no helmets, packs, or other safety gear is required. The big guns started out incredibly hard, with the rest of the field falling apart behind. In the end, Killian was dominant in the men's race, finishing the 850 meter course in just over 39 minutes.
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Early in the Vertical Race with the young German Palzer leading it out.
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Killian ended up with a dominant win.
The Americans were led by Eric Carter of Canada, followed by Rory Kelly just seconds behind, then Jon Brown of Crested Butte and Billy Laird of Crested Butte. They all put in honorable efforts which were clear on their faces as they neared the finish.
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Rory Kelly, new to ski mountaineering, was the second American behind Eric Carter but both put in fantastic efforts.
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The carnage
In the women's race, the top 13 places were dominated by the usual suspects but 14th belonged to an incredibly strong Lindsey Plant. She was followed by Meredith Edwards, who did well to race just hours after traveling from the US, and Jari Kirkland who also raced the sprint yesterday.
Tomorrow is a rest day, which means more skiing, which means it's time for sleep.
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Lindsey Plant was the top American woman finishing in 14th in a solid field.
Posted by
SLC sherpa
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4:04 PM
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Backpacking San Jacinto Peak to Strawberry Junction via PCT - San Jacinto SP, CA
Alice Kao
May 13, 2012
California, Trip Report, Backpacking
The greatest thing about San Jacinto is that it was the closest backpacking trip to SoCal we've ever done. It was nice not to spend 7+ hours in the car just to get to our destination for a change.
Although one might think the scenery here isn't as epic and diversified as what is found in the Sierra, you can still experience some true wilderness, isolation, and raw beauty up in these mountains. Strawberry Junction was absolutely beautiful, and we would definitely consider doing a variation of this trip again since it is so close.
Hike Info
Dates: 5/11 - 5/13Miles: 19.5 roundtripElevation: ~2,400Trail Type: LoopTrailhead: Google Maps
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Trail map
Getting There
We hit some traffic driving to Palm Springs from San Diego on a Friday, and we ended up sprinting into the office to buy tickets ($24) for the last tram up the mountain. We were able to watch the beautiful sunset over the desert on our way up the tram. I know some people hike up the mountain from another side, but this side of the mountain looked quite steep from the tram.
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Taking the aerial tram up Jacinto to the trailhead
The Hike
By the time we got to the top (8,516'), filled up on water, and headed out on the trail, it was getting quite dark. I definitely felt the thinner air as we started hiking. We passed lots of climbers and day hikers coming back to the tram station as we were leaving. Since it got dark, we got lost trying to find the right trail, so by the time we actually got going, it was quite dark and cold.
We hiked the 2.1 miles to Round Valley with our headlamps, found a flat spot, and quickly set up camp. It was a really cold night, and when we woke up we saw what the rest of the campground looked like.
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Camping at Round Valley in the spring
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Spending the first night of our backpacking trip at Round Valley campground
The trail started passing through patches of snow, and eventually very large snow drifts that reached past my knees with each step we took. We lost the trail numerous times, and had to rely on some of the previous footprints to figure it out. Eventually we started climbing up towards the summit.
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Hiking through the snow at San jacinto in the spring
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Hiking and backpacking San Jacinto in the snow
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Hiking to San Jacinto summit early season
3.7 miles later, we were at the top of the 10,834 foot mountain peak.
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At the summit of Mt. San Jacinto Peak at an elevation of 10834
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The view from the top of Mount San Jacinto
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Overlooking the beautiful mountain views from the peak
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Panorama view from Mt. Jacinto peak
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Gourmet pizza lunch overlooking the desert - click here for more backpacking meals
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Relaxing at the peak
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Tree climbing
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Looking for water sources along the trail
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Pumping some ice cold water at a small stream we passed
At 1.3 miles we passed Little Round Valley, and then 3.8 more miles later we reached Strawberry Junction to set up camp. Each camp spot is designated by a wooden post, and they are far from each other, giving everybody some privacy. We were surprised to see all of the other camp spots taken since we hadn't seen many people on the trail all day, but we were happy with our site. As the sun set, we climbed to the top of a nearby rock pile to watch the sky change colors, and we stayed there till the stars came out.
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Our beautiful campsite at Strawberry Campground
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Sunset from strawberry campground at Mt. San Jacinto
The next day we packed up to head to continue up the PCT to Saddle Junction.
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Clark ducking under a large fallen tree over the trail
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Clark relaxing by the creek where we had lunch
After our lunch at Willow Creek Crossing, we had an uphill climb on cement to arrive back at the Tram to conclude our 9.4 mile day. We originally planned this as a 3 night trip, but we felt like we had enough energy to just go ahead and do it in 2. Strawberry Junction was one of the prettiest camp spots we've seen, and we would definitely try to hike to it again, perhaps from Idyllwild.
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