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Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
This was the third day of Eugene’s trip to CA in February of 2018. After failed attempt to summit Whitney and a miserable next day attempt on Morgan South we headed up the Death Valley for some warm and welcoming weather. Meeting the sunrise was decided with Mainly Beacon as a main subject, so we did scaling one of the the hills nearing the golden canyon. Funny enough it was my third time going this route but the first time actually meeting sunrise (kind of always wanted). One thing we didn’t account for was that golden canyon is a canyon (duh) and the actual sun appeared quite late, making colors a bit less saturated.. It was beautiful regardless.
We headed to Nopah Peak right after that to meet Rob, Jose and Cindy… Winter time is a DPS time folks… consider…
I remember when I went up the chute to Carillon for the first time and stopped by the cliff to watch Whitney’s east face from that north angle, oh yes, I remember clearly I told myself I’m coming back for that sunrise shot. This series represents exactly that - a commitment to a promise I gave to myself – to take that shot and and, to some extent, also to climb Russell. It was a solo assent and the entire trip was focused on essentially two things: take the shot and summit but also be back to Newport to return the rental in under 24 hours. And I succeeded.
Not that I haven’t gone up the mountaineers’ route, quite the opposite, but I think it was the first time I did it in a summer, also in the night as the plan was to be there by the sunrise. It all went mostly smooth (I had to bushwhack a bit, but it almost doesn’t count)
Memories first – this is what counts, and for anyone witnessed a sunrise over sierra mountains there should be no need in explanation, for others I would say go and see it for yourself )
Mount Prater – Spontaneous trip with Rob on Sunday. Being stuck in Newport for the last 2 month, I haven’t been out (and about) in Sierra for quite some time, so the trip was very timely. We left LA on Saturday, aiming to beat the traffic in a lazy delayed fashion, which we did.., but that contributed to my return back at 4AM on Monday. But if that’s the price I have to pay for such a day – sign me up! We’ve started from the Red Lake TH (which still has those burned down abandoned cars from 2019 Taboose fire - quite a sad scene, particularly at night).
Last time I visited the area was when I did Split back in 2018 and at that time I told myself that there is no way I’m coming back to that sandy crap unmarked trail… short lived my memory apparently (just get me excited of that sunrise I’ll forget anything).
The temps were in low 30s and wind chill wasn’t warming us up either, but the calculation worked out well – 2AM start we were by the lower lake around 6AM and waited (tolerable) 40 min for the sunrise. When it came it rushed on a mountain by the seconds, I will never forget … – one should have been just clicking and praying for the right shot to be saved on CF, and so clicking we did…
Lakes were barely frozen and were producing that incredible sound every time something touched it (a rock or a wind… creepy feeling especially at night).
Summiting Prater is summiting Split, you just turn right after the saddle, right?.. and with 13.4k ft its 500ft shorter it should have been an easy pick.. but boy it felt like forever and miserable after 13k (that Newport life isn’t helping me). The summit register had three books spanning from early 1960’s to-date… crazy to think that my dad was 6 when someone had placed that first record up there… across the Globe, and Cuban Crisis was only about to happen…
With much respect to the summit, we were short on a daylight, so we rushed back but nothing really helped – the terrain is… is just typical Palisades – big boulders that move constantly upon every step, trying to jam your leg (my worst fear).. Cool adventure, aint coming back to Red Lake trail for another two years.
This was the second day of Eugene’s trip to CA in February of 2018. After failed attempt to summit Whitney and a miserable next day attempt on Morgan South we headed up the Death Valley for some warm and welcoming weather. We didn’t have much time before the sunset so we settled on Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and it was the right choice. A small hint for those travelling and taking pictures is to go to the right of the parking lot, in about a mile the footprints will disappear and if you lucky enough you’ll get that 30 seconds of low sun just right.
This was the last day of Eugene’s trip to California. What was supposed to be a climb to Whitney turned out into a road trip. We explored pretty much the main spots of Eastern Sierra that were not hit by the snow storm at that time. One of them was the Mammoth Hot Springs where we arrived after visiting the Death Valley. Not knowing how far it would be we scouted the sunrise sport in the night (apparently it was super close), then knocked out in the car for a few hours to wake up to that gorgeous sunrise.
As you can see the storm was rolling in over the Mammoth this morning but we’ve got a glimpse of a sunrise on Mount Laurel.
Later we’ve spent a few hours in hidden hot tubs (not so much hidden thanks to the google maps) which was whole lot of fun.
This was the second day of Eugene’s trip to CA in February of 2018. After failed attempt to summit Whitney and a miserable next day attempt on Morgan South we headed up the Death Valley for some warm and welcoming weather. We didn’t have much time before the sunset so we settled on Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and it was the right choice. A small hint for those travelling and taking pictures is to go to the right of the parking lot, in about a mile the footprints will disappear and if you lucky enough you’ll get that 30 seconds of low sun just right.
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Hazy skies but clear mind. We climbed to Lone Pine Peak (we being myself, Lorenzo, Lauren and Hayla). There was one of my 2017 close calls when a giant bolder slid underneath me and took off roaring down the chute. We spent the night a few hundred feet below the summit and boy the sunrise was amazing. That haze really made it look different, less saturated and more delicate. Really enjoyed this trip and will definitely come back one day. We almost met Sarah and Peter, as they were accenting the North Ridge, but we decided not to wait for them and just left them a present at the top. Btw.. that haze is because of burning forest somewhere near Olancha
Incredible traverse from Joe Devel to Pickering to Newcomb with gorgeous sunset over the lake 12129
This was yet another crazy-long weekend, my first time hiking of the Cottonwood pass trailhead. It all started as an idea to spend long weekend up in Sierra to escape the heatwave that was about to hit SoCal.
Weâve started very late in the night and our idea was to hike in as far as we could and so we did, our first stop was near the Chicken Spring Lake. it was sort of short, just enough to catch up with altitude after the long break at the sea level and early next morning we left to establish our camp near 36.493, -118.2703. We immediately left as it was a very long day ahead of us. Our first goal was Joe Devel and it was stupidly sandy/scree awfully annoying to get to that summit, but we did. The summit itself is ok, with some views on Lake Erin and The Major General towards north, but I wouldnât call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal â Mt.Pickering. Couple of sharp rocks but overall very enjoyable traverse, easy and fun. The Pickering itself has limited views towards north, but you can see much of the traverse towards Newcomb and Mt Chamberlain that is towards south of it. Excited about yet another stretch of rocky catwalk that connects Pickering and Newcomb we left the former and swiftly moving soon we arrived to the Newcomb. Personally I was way faster on the ridge but when the dealing with long and stupid gradual sandy incline the guys took off leaving me and the dust
Nevertheless the most beautiful part was ahead of us as the goal was to descent from the Newcomb towards the lakes below us but before we were delighted to see the beauty of the ridge connecting Newcomb and McAdie. Iâve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and weâve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limited in time but we could not resist and stayed there watching the sun shining on McAdie and its needles reflecting in the lake. Purely gorgeous sunset and one of few west facing shots in my collection as it usually takes a lot of time to get to areas like that.. Speaking of which, our way back to the camp was long and sometimes confusing as this area sees little visitors ( just a few occasional cairns above sky blue lake..)
Next day we decided to hike out hitting a few peaks on the way back, so weâve reached New Army Pass and traversed to Cirque Peak. Weâve reached cottonwood pass tagging 12525, 12417 and 12336.
Overall it was a remarkable journey, enjoy the images.
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Incredible traverse from Joe Devel to Pickering to Newcomb with gorgeous sunset over the lake 12129
This was yet another crazy-long weekend, my first time hiking of the Cottonwood pass trailhead. It all started as an idea to spend long weekend up in Sierra to escape the heatwave that was about to hit SoCal.
Weâve started very late in the night and our idea was to hike in as far as we could and so we did, our first stop was near the Chicken Spring Lake. it was sort of short, just enough to catch up with altitude after the long break at the sea level and early next morning we left to establish our camp near 36.493, -118.2703. We immediately left as it was a very long day ahead of us. Our first goal was Joe Devel and it was stupidly sandy/scree awfully annoying to get to that summit, but we did. The summit itself is ok, with some views on Lake Erin and The Major General towards north, but I wouldnât call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal â Mt.Pickering. Couple of sharp rocks but overall very enjoyable traverse, easy and fun. The Pickering itself has limited views towards north, but you can see much of the traverse towards Newcomb and Mt Chamberlain that is towards south of it. Excited about yet another stretch of rocky catwalk that connects Pickering and Newcomb we left the former and swiftly moving soon we arrived to the Newcomb. Personally I was way faster on the ridge but when the dealing with long and stupid gradual sandy incline the guys took off leaving me and the dust
Nevertheless the most beautiful part was ahead of us as the goal was to descent from the Newcomb towards the lakes below us but before we were delighted to see the beauty of the ridge connecting Newcomb and McAdie. Iâve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and weâve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limited in time but we could not resist and stayed there watching the sun shining on McAdie and its needles reflecting in the lake. Purely gorgeous sunset and one of few west facing shots in my collection as it usually takes a lot of time to get to areas like that.. Speaking of which, our way back to the camp was long and sometimes confusing as this area sees little visitors ( just a few occasional cairns above sky blue lake..)
Next day we decided to hike out hitting a few peaks on the way back, so weâve reached New Army Pass and traversed to Cirque Peak. Weâve reached cottonwood pass tagging 12525, 12417 and 12336.
Overall it was a remarkable journey, enjoy the images.
This was the second day of Eugeneâs trip to CA in February of 2018. After failed attempt to summit Whitney and a miserable next day attempt on Morgan South we headed up the Death Valley for some warm and welcoming weather. We didnât have much time before the sunset so we settled on Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and it was the right choice. A small hint for those travelling and taking pictures is to go to the right of the parking lot, in about a mile the footprints will disappear and if you lucky enough youâll get that 30 seconds of low sun just right.
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Incredible traverse from Joe Devel to Pickering to Newcomb with gorgeous sunset over the lake 12129
This was yet another crazy-long weekend, my first time hiking of the Cottonwood pass trailhead. It all started as an idea to spend long weekend up in Sierra to escape the heatwave that was about to hit SoCal.
Weâve started very late in the night and our idea was to hike in as far as we could and so we did, our first stop was near the Chicken Spring Lake. it was sort of short, just enough to catch up with altitude after the long break at the sea level and early next morning we left to establish our camp near 36.493, -118.2703. We immediately left as it was a very long day ahead of us. Our first goal was Joe Devel and it was stupidly sandy/scree awfully annoying to get to that summit, but we did. The summit itself is ok, with some views on Lake Erin and The Major General towards north, but I wouldnât call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal â Mt.Pickering. Couple of sharp rocks but overall very enjoyable traverse, easy and fun. The Pickering itself has limited views towards north, but you can see much of the traverse towards Newcomb and Mt Chamberlain that is towards south of it. Excited about yet another stretch of rocky catwalk that connects Pickering and Newcomb we left the former and swiftly moving soon we arrived to the Newcomb. Personally I was way faster on the ridge but when the dealing with long and stupid gradual sandy incline the guys took off leaving me and the dust
Nevertheless the most beautiful part was ahead of us as the goal was to descent from the Newcomb towards the lakes below us but before we were delighted to see the beauty of the ridge connecting Newcomb and McAdie. Iâve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and weâve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limited in time but we could not resist and stayed there watching the sun shining on McAdie and its needles reflecting in the lake. Purely gorgeous sunset and one of few west facing shots in my collection as it usually takes a lot of time to get to areas like that.. Speaking of which, our way back to the camp was long and sometimes confusing as this area sees little visitors ( just a few occasional cairns above sky blue lake..)
Next day we decided to hike out hitting a few peaks on the way back, so weâve reached New Army Pass and traversed to Cirque Peak. Weâve reached cottonwood pass tagging 12525, 12417 and 12336.
Overall it was a remarkable journey, enjoy the images.
Incredible traverse from Joe Devel to Pickering to Newcomb with gorgeous sunset over the lake 12129
This was yet another crazy-long weekend, my first time hiking of the Cottonwood pass trailhead. It all started as an idea to spend long weekend up in Sierra to escape the heatwave that was about to hit SoCal.
Weâve started very late in the night and our idea was to hike in as far as we could and so we did, our first stop was near the Chicken Spring Lake. it was sort of short, just enough to catch up with altitude after the long break at the sea level and early next morning we left to establish our camp near 36.493, -118.2703. We immediately left as it was a very long day ahead of us. Our first goal was Joe Devel and it was stupidly sandy/scree awfully annoying to get to that summit, but we did. The summit itself is ok, with some views on Lake Erin and The Major General towards north, but I wouldnât call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal â Mt.Pickering. Couple of sharp rocks but overall very enjoyable traverse, easy and fun. The Pickering itself has limited views towards north, but you can see much of the traverse towards Newcomb and Mt Chamberlain that is towards south of it. Excited about yet another stretch of rocky catwalk that connects Pickering and Newcomb we left the former and swiftly moving soon we arrived to the Newcomb. Personally I was way faster on the ridge but when the dealing with long and stupid gradual sandy incline the guys took off leaving me and the dust
Nevertheless the most beautiful part was ahead of us as the goal was to descent from the Newcomb towards the lakes below us but before we were delighted to see the beauty of the ridge connecting Newcomb and McAdie. Iâve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and weâve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limited in time but we could not resist and stayed there watching the sun shining on McAdie and its needles reflecting in the lake. Purely gorgeous sunset and one of few west facing shots in my collection as it usually takes a lot of time to get to areas like that.. Speaking of which, our way back to the camp was long and sometimes confusing as this area sees little visitors ( just a few occasional cairns above sky blue lake..)
Next day we decided to hike out hitting a few peaks on the way back, so weâve reached New Army Pass and traversed to Cirque Peak. Weâve reached cottonwood pass tagging 12525, 12417 and 12336.
Overall it was a remarkable journey, enjoy the images.
A quick hike up to the summit of the Mt Carillon. We started around 2AM in the morning and approached it via the chute right below the Lower Boy Scout Lake. Easy walk up considering a firm snow and good company.
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri
Incredible traverse from Joe Devel to Pickering to Newcomb with gorgeous sunset over the lake 12129
This was yet another crazy-long weekend, my first time hiking of the Cottonwood pass trailhead. It all started as an idea to spend long weekend up in Sierra to escape the heatwave that was about to hit SoCal.
Weâve started very late in the night and our idea was to hike in as far as we could and so we did, our first stop was near the Chicken Spring Lake. it was sort of short, just enough to catch up with altitude after the long break at the sea level and early next morning we left to establish our camp near 36.493, -118.2703. We immediately left as it was a very long day ahead of us. Our first goal was Joe Devel and it was stupidly sandy/scree awfully annoying to get to that summit, but we did. The summit itself is ok, with some views on Lake Erin and The Major General towards north, but I wouldnât call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal â Mt.Pickering. Couple of sharp rocks but overall very enjoyable traverse, easy and fun. The Pickering itself has limited views towards north, but you can see much of the traverse towards Newcomb and Mt Chamberlain that is towards south of it. Excited about yet another stretch of rocky catwalk that connects Pickering and Newcomb we left the former and swiftly moving soon we arrived to the Newcomb. Personally I was way faster on the ridge but when the dealing with long and stupid gradual sandy incline the guys took off leaving me and the dust
Nevertheless the most beautiful part was ahead of us as the goal was to descent from the Newcomb towards the lakes below us but before we were delighted to see the beauty of the ridge connecting Newcomb and McAdie. Iâve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and weâve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limited in time but we could not resist and stayed there watching the sun shining on McAdie and its needles reflecting in the lake. Purely gorgeous sunset and one of few west facing shots in my collection as it usually takes a lot of time to get to areas like that.. Speaking of which, our way back to the camp was long and sometimes confusing as this area sees little visitors ( just a few occasional cairns above sky blue lake..)
Next day we decided to hike out hitting a few peaks on the way back, so weâve reached New Army Pass and traversed to Cirque Peak. Weâve reached cottonwood pass tagging 12525, 12417 and 12336.
Overall it was a remarkable journey, enjoy the images.
Ritter and Banner… Should I tell more? Actually to make it sound even more epic – it was a winter ascent, so double
Some of you might know where these mountains are located, for others – this is in the very heart of beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness area.
Winter ascents have their own perks and in this case we added somewhat around 5 miles of plain walking from Mammoth resort (lifts) down to the Agnew Meadows trailhead - thanks to the deep snow. We’ve decided to break it down into 3 full days due to the snow: the first day was for hiking in, the second – to actual summits and the third for hiking out.
The approach itself was fairly straightforward... it’s a highway all the way until Ediza Lake, mostly flat. On the second day we’ve approached Ritter first and were able to cut a little on the west slopes via one narrow chutes just above the glacier. The summit was a blast but the fun began when we started traversing down from Ritter to the saddle below the Banner. I was not very comfortable with rappelling at that time and just descended on my own (now that I think of it was a bit stupid) but doing so allowed me to take a pretty epic shots of guys from the perspective otherwise impossible (lessons learned – have a second rope and rappel in parallel to the group for that epicness)
Anyhow, Banner was much easier but some of us were a bit slow so we met the sunset descending.. and the real challenge begun… The thing is that in order to get back to the Ediza Lake one has to go down rather steep slope (from the saddle between Ritter and Banner) And while I bet it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge during the day light, but the night added a few moments to that descent… We made it down safe regardless…
Next day was a long and painful return (lifts at Mammoth Mountain are slightly higher Ansel Adams Wilderness.) and while normally it would not be a problem, that extra winter gear got me so slow… – I barely made it back to lifts…
Awesome tri