Northwest Ridge of Mt. Morrison (class 3)

A couple of months ago I was browsing mountainproject , and saw something to the effect of "looking for a partner to suffer in the snow with". Well that caught my attention, someone else wanted to climb peaks in the Sierra's in the cold months?

Finding other alpinists, much less alpinists that want to climb things in the snow/winter has been an ongoing challenge for me.

The poster turned out to be a fellow pHD academic at UC Davis, Richard Cobb, and after looking at our dually busy schedules we decided on the weekend of Feb 27/28th for a trip.

I had been wanting to climb Mt Morrison but had been unable to find a partner. Richard had climbed the mountain in October, but was willing to do it again.

We met at the Convict Lake parking area Friday night, shared a couple of beers, then off to bed. We woke up around 5 and were heading up towards the peak by 6-6:30 am,
A quick jaunt down a hiking trail along the lake, then up to the snow covered scree slopes that lead to ridge proper. The snow was well consolidated, and wind swept making for fun step kicking and crampon work up the base of the route.

Richard having fun on the approach

After the snow slopes, we put our crampons away, and started scrambling on the ridge.

Time for some scrambling

The lower part of the ridge was excellent, the rock quality was actually not as bad as Mt Morrison's reputation indicated. However as we gained altitude the rock quality began to deteriorate. This resulted in some very carful climbing. Reminded me of a less extreme version of some Canadian Rockies climbs that I have seen on some of Mark Smiley's films. We made good progress gaining more and more height on the ridge, climbing over towers.

Fun scrambling!

After a few hours, I either ran out of glycogen or the altitude started to hit me, and I slowed down considerably. Richard was a badass, moving quickly, efficiently and with tons of confidence. It was really nice to climb with someone experienced, and with as much (or maybe even more!) stoke than myself.

Richard looking badass on the way up.

I'm getting tired

The ridge itself is about a mile long, and gains about 4000'. Lots of delicate, loose climbing followed by some even sketchier scree fields, and finally we toped out around lunchtime. 

Summit shot!

Signing the register

The views from the summit were awesome, the sun was shining, and it was nice to see such a health snowpack off in the distance. Mt Morrison itself lies in a rain shadow, so the ridge was fairly dry. We only encountered a few big snow patches on the line.

Lots of snow!

We descended the snow covered east slopes. Someone had summited by that route earlier in the day, leaving us a nice fresh set of tracks to follow down. We eventually dropped into a snow bowl and were able to glissade some of the way down. Woo hoo!

Descent down the snow bowl.

We were back to the car around 5pm. I was completely exhausted. Terrific climb, right at the limit of my endurance, the exposure and climbing were exciting, but never difficult or particular dangerous. I think an excellent introduction to semi-technical winter mountaineering. I would highly recommend this route to any aspiring winter sierra alpinists. 

On Sunday we were both way to spent to try a second peak, so we zipped up to Lee Vining for some top rope ice climbing! Great way to spend a few hours before the long drive back to Fresno. 

Typical busy climbing at Lee Vining

We ended up on a thinish WI2 on the right hand side. Perfect for learning!

Ice Climbing with the Sierra Mountaineering Club

Its been about 6-8 years since I last swung an ice tool. I used to climb with Kyle every Christmas break when I was in grad school. At the time I was following Kyle on routes up to WI4 and I even led a couple of easy ice climbs.

My very first ice lead, circa. 2007

Thunder Bay ice climbing, circa 2007

Kyle battling White Lightning (WI3+) circa 2007

Fast forward ~8-10 years, and here I am climbing with as much passion as I did in my twenties. I think if anything my ambition is even bigger than it was then. With my alpine dreams, competence with snow and ice is a crucial competent. So this year I am committed to filling the technical gaps in my climbing so I can actually get onto some of the bigger peaks.

 I decided to try out the whole club/guide scene in order to re-explore ice climbing. I joined the Sierra Mountaineering Club, a non-profit alpine club that offers many training courses. I signed up for a 2 day ice climbing course at Lee Vining.

I drove up to Lee Vining Friday night (6 hours!) and joined the group at 7am on Saturday. There were 9 climbers on day 1, and only 5 on day 2. The guides through up a couple of top ropes, and we basically played around on the ice. We were given some instruction on motion, crampon use, and how to swing tools properly.

Our group top roping at Lee Vining

One of our group members getting instruction from an SMC guide

On the second day we were taught about ice screw placements, V-thread anchors, and did several mock leads. I think I must have climbed about 15 pitches of ice over the 2 days. I was amazed at how quickly my body remembered how to climb. I had no problem cruising up the ice falls. it was honestly like riding a bicycle. I think also my aerobic training was extremely valuable, I was barley tired even after all those pitches.

A climber leading a WI 4 section on the main falls

What I really got out of this course was confidence. If I can find willing partners, I am ready to go back to Lee Vining on my own, and lead some ice pitches. I also feel very ready for my week of ice climbing in Thunder Bay coming up in March, and I am excited to climb with Kyle again, and lead some ice pitches.

Drone view of Lee Vining

Pear Lake Ski Hut and "Skiers Alta"

This year I am keen (that's Canadian for "stoked") to do some more winter climbing. I had come across the Pear Lake backcountry ski hut in Sequoia on the internet and applied in the lottery for a reservation in January. 

The hut is really a backcountry ski destination, but we decided to try our hands at bagging a peak in the winter, and snowshoeing in.  Three people were interested, Jared, Micheal and Garrett, so the four us planned to go the weekend of Jan 23-24th 2016. Seemed like a good way to start the New Year!

Micheal at the Pear Lake Hut

                                                       
The week before, the Sierras were pommeled with a series of winter storms, bringing huge amounts of fresh snow. This made me a bit nervous, mostly owing to my lack of avalanche training. Thee week before called for yet another storm, but we decided to go anyway. Garrett backed out at the last minute, so a friend of Micheal, also named Micheal signed up for the trip.

Friday night we drove to Sequoia and camped at low elevation. We started at 4 am Saturday morning in the pouring rain, which turned into a snow storm above 6000'.  The approach was fairly exhausting, 6 miles of unbroken trail, in a snow storm, with around 2000' of elevation gain

Jared enjoying the snow

rest time on the way up

We made it to the hut in about 5 hours. The snow hammered us the whole way. With near whiteout conditions, we decided to put off going for the summit of skiers Alta. The others decided to relax a little bit in the hut, I headed out for a solo outing on the ridge to scope out where we would be going on Sunday for the summit.

After a terrific nights rest, and a non-alpine start, myself and the two Michaels left around 8am to head for the summit of skiers Alta. Its just a class 2 snowshoe approach, not very difficult, but with stunning scenery. Although the approach was mellow, it was fairly cold as we gained elevation

Micheal and Micheal

Once we gained the summit ridge, the wind picked up (maybe 50 mph?) and was sending spindrift all over the place.

It was not long before we were on the summit

Summit selfie

It took us about three hours up form the hut, and only about 30 min down. We ate a quick lunch, and headed back to the cars. Overall a fun outing with a great group of guys!

Micheal contemplates the meaning of life an so on.