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Mt Whitney via the Mountaineers Route :

Mt Whitney via the Mountaineers Route

Updated: Sep 24, 2009 10:14pm PST

Mts Wallace and Haeckel :

Mts Wallace and Haeckel

Updated: Nov 28, 2009 4:58pm PST

Mt Johnson 6/6-7 2009 : Here are some pics of our 3rd post WTC snow climb (sans students) We started with 5 commited, but one by one people dropped out, leaving just Neil and myself. Report below is written by Neil, pics by me. Enjoy!! Given the dire weather predictions the Sierra was remarkably clear. We drove all the way into the South Lake parking lot (9,860’) without any problem. We didn’t hit significant snow until 10,500’. We camped at the main Treasure Lake (10,700’) as the XC route to the upper lake (11,200’) was all snow and we suspected (rightly so) that the upper lake was snowed in leaving us no place to camp. We had clouds most on the day and light snow flurries most of the afternoon. We couldn’t rally to climb Hurd that afternoon so we pretty much just explored the area and lounged. On Sunday we got up at 4:15 AM and set out for Treasure Col at 5:30. There were clouds all morning but they were high up and it was surprisingly warm. The snow was a bit soft and for the most part we only needed our axes. We went ahead and put our crampons on when it got steep. We ascended Treasure Col to reach the Sierra crest at 12,240’. Treasure Col has sustained climbing to 40 degrees but we were punching through up to our calves and knees so there wasn’t much risk of a fall. It also was full of snow to the top without the exposed rocks we had when climbing Kearsarge. As we approached the crest the snow steepened and iced up. There was 10 feet or so at the top that went to maybe 45 degrees and we front pointed up that. While it could be a bit un-nerving it really wasn’t as risky as it sounds as the entire route was soft and there was a “bowl” of softer snow just below the icy pitch (maybe 50 feet?). Actually this was pretty good training for snow climbing as it would have been pretty hard to get hurt. The crest was a different story. It’s a 3rd class rock climb to the summit of Mt Johnson. Unfortunately much of the rock was hidden by a layer of soft snow which also hid solid water ice and deep gaps between the rocks. Within a 5 foot stretch I was hitting rock an inch down, then I was up to my waist in snow, and then solid water ice blocked the entire route. All of this pretty much looked the same on top, powder snow with the bigger rocks sticking out here and there. The ridge was dangerous plain and simple and so we were stopped 600’ short of the summit. We hadn’t made it much more than about 15 feet (in 15 minutes). Mt Gilbert was another possibility. We could see the route up which is a 2nd class dome of small talus and scree much of which was covered in snow. This looked doable, the problem is it requires a several hundred foot down-climb off the backside of Treasure Col, and given the conditions we had on the crest we weren’t overly excited about that prospect. So down Treasure Col we glissaded. While it was steep enough to glissade I had to keep my feet and ax up just to keep going. We back-tracked to camp, packed out, and were home in time to catch the last 3 minutes of the Laker game.

Mt Johnson 6/6-7 2009

Here are some pics of our 3rd post WTC snow climb (sans students) We s ...

Updated: Jun 15, 2009 7:15pm PST

Bloody Mt via the Bloody Coulior, 6/3/2006 :

Bloody Mt via the Bloody Coulior, 6/3/2006

Updated: Jun 09, 2008 10:50pm PST

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