Mt Conness (12,590') - North ridge (II, 5.6)

I tickled my alpine itch this weekend by heading up highway 120 and climbing the North ridge of Mt. Conness with Mitchell. Mt. Conness has been on tick list for a long time, but I was thwarted twice before, despite the route being very easy. The first time, was back in 2016, I went up with Mitchell and Garrett, but a combination of fresh snow, lack of crampons and some mild AMS resulted in us not making onto the route, but rather climbing Shepard's crest instead. In 2017, I went up to try the West ridge with Michael, and it snowed that time as well! 

This time the weather was perfect and the whole thing was a casual affair.

North ridge of Mt. Conness

 

Now the fun begins! - Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

Mitch and I hit the trail from Saddlebag lake around 5:45am. We made good time, passing another party on their way up to the ridge. We then ran into a solo climber named Todd, who happened to be a friend of Mitch's! So we became a group of three. We trudged up the loose class 3 gully to gain the beautiful North ridge. We soloed the whole thing, and I did it all in approach shoes. It was really a great scramble on perfect white granite.

Mitch and Todd on the ridge

 

Mitch and Todd having a chat. - all around a mellow outing

 

Scrambling on the ridge - Photo credit - Mitchell Quiring

The only real difficulty on the ridge is a 5.6 down climb, we by-passed it by rigging a rappel, the only time the rope came out of the pack.  

Rappel to avoid the down climb. Todd just down climbed it.

After the rappel, there was a few hundred feet of low 5th class/4th class slab climbing to reach to summit. Fun and easily done in my approach shoes.

Views of Toulumne meadows from the ridge

 

Summit slabs

Then we relaxed on the summit for a good hour, enjoying the sun. It was a leisurely 4 hours from the car to the top. A short, casual outing. We then descending along the east slopes following a good trail through some lovely lakes and meadows to the Sawmill campground. 

Pretty

 We were back at our car by 1PM. Since we were so quick on Conness, Mitch and I hopped in the car and drove 45 min up to Lembert Dome, and blasted off a quick climb to the summit of the dome - Northest book (II, 5.6). 

Squeeze on the Northwest book of Lembert Dome

 

Two peaks in a day!

What a great day in the mountains! I decided to head home, knowing that Teresa was a bit lonely. I'll be back on the East Side next weekend -- for some more climbing!