I have generally been intimidated by 4th Class ridges in the Sierra. People like to sandbag and I’m afraid of these routes developing into something that feels really exposed, sustained and generally 5th Class. However, I’ve also been feeling really confident this year in the backcountry so I wanted to see if I could confront these apprehensions. As a bonus, I might have also set a new record for “highest vert-in-day” with 8,100 ft.
The alpine of the Eastern Sierra might be the most special place in the world to me. It is my most reliable place where “the magic happens” for true mountain adventures. As with any real adventure, it requires some amount of uncertainty and typically struggle. So its with this in mind and inspired by The Sierra High Route, I played around with the idea, “what would it look like if I created my own off-trail route through the Sierra via obscure, untraveled terrain with the goal of staying in wild alpine for as long as possible?”. I thought creating my own route and not taking someone else’s would provided the best test-piece for my own mountain skills and physical ability.
I definitely got an adventure. I planned for seven days, but completed this 80 mile, 23,770 ft elevation gain route over twelve 11,000+ ft passes, up six 13,000+ ft peaks over five physically brutal days which often left me in an under-fueled, exhausted state of delirium. Doing it solo meant I was responsible for judgment calls and also meant I really pushed it physically, often in a Type 2-2.5 “fun” state of mind to prove to myself what I could do. It was so challenging enough mentally that I thought about naming this The Sierra High Pout. You spend enough time in complex terrain and unsettled, long boulder fields and you also can get a lot of close calls. It will mark one of the my most ambitious adventures in the Sierra in the last decade and probably the next.
Note: Click on the photos for the higher resolution galleries and helpful captions
Bear Creek Spire’s North Arete (5.8, 1,000 ft, 10p) is a classic Eastern Sierra alpine route to a 13,700 ft summit. I first attempted it as a newer climber in October and high wind conditions, luckily I was convinced to bail at the base. Later I sent it proper from a high camp in August 2019. This time around, I felt it was the perfect objective to get into the alpine with a newer trad partner. Especially because the approach was short enough to attempt in a day, avoiding the permitting game (which I was pretty unsuccessful with this year). It may also be the last alpine climb I get for the year, so worth the push.
Charlotte Dome, South Face (5.8, 12p, 1,500ft) is a 100 Classic Climb of North America. It is a bit too long to car-car (12mi, 3,000 ft from Eastside), so my friend Kevin and I decided to do it in two days. I was super excited to experience this large, long, wilderness epic climb in my year back to climbing and it fully delivered an adventure.
Hiking up Mt. Ruskin ridge with Arrowhead Peak looking awesome in background
To have an adventure there must be uncertainty and typically discomfort which pays off with surprise, presence and exploration. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Kings Canyon and for this backpacking trip I wanted to get back into the high country and access an off-trail, high elevation lakes basin. A loose plan, an opportunistic permit grab and a cursory Summit Post look at a peak was all that I needed to push my self physically, feel like I was in a wilderness, have scrambling fun and be surprised by maybe the most beautiful, blue alpine lake I’ve ever seen on this 36mi, 13,000 ft, 3 day trip.
Ahhhhh permitting in the Eastern Sierra. When I moved to Mammoth Lakes, I was stoked for walk up permits because I could finally get them easily from the Mammoth Welcome Center the day before. However, after COVID, ‘walk up’ turned into two weeks before the entry date and all online. Great for non-residents like I used to be, but a bummer as a resident because it meant using an online system that can be hyper competitive. Thus we got a permit for Laurel Lakes just out of Mammoth Lakes and then went over the Laurel Col. to the Convict Lake Basin to climb Mt. Baldwin.
The 3rd Class blocky section traversing to Huntington
I had this grand idea of doing a traverse of the Pioneer Basin peaks, 8mi and 4k elevation gain of ridgeline. Followed by going over Hopkins Pass, making our way out to Duck Lake in Mammoth Lakes with peak bagging along the way. Then the plan hit reality and things were more difficult than I had hoped… (the proposed route)
Airy Traverse on the last tower of Sun Ribbon Arete
Temple Crag is a huge formation out of Big Pine, CA. It hosts several amazingly long climbs from the 13 pitch Venusian Blind (5.7) to the 16 pitch Dark Star (5.10c) in the 1,500-2,000 ft long range. I made a failed attempt on Moon Goddess Arete (18 pitch, 5.8) back in 2018, but only found bad rock instead of the traverse to second tower. This time I teamed up with my friend Kevin to climb Sun Ribbon Arete (2000 ft, 22 pitches, 5.10a) car-car. I’ve never done a single day push before (most people camp at the upper lakes the night before) and was pretty intimidated but it went really well in a 17 hours continuous movement day.
I have looked at Mt. Morrison’s grand 12,240 ft summit for many years. We had a Spring summit attempt in 2017, when we said “who cares, let’s ski” at the Morrison Couloir. In 2020 Sadie and I climbed Laurel and the view of Morrison again called to me. Now on fun-employment I took the day to bag it (basically this route) through brush, across post holing snow and up some 4th class rock that I got myself into (the route goes Class 3 if you aren’t messing around like me).
Iva Bell Hot Springs are a backcountry hotspot for warm pools of water. The journey would bring us through thorny bushes, over many large logs, across bridged rivers and finally battling algae in these backcountry host springs. In all the trip would take us 35 miles, 6,800 ft over two long days.
