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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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
We’ve 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 wouldn’t call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal – 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. I’ve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and we’ve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limi
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.
We’ve 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 wouldn’t call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal – 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. I’ve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and we’ve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limi
2017 winter accent. Great year for mountaineers route - chutes are full of snow making it much easier to get to the base. IT was April and snow was still firm, just in general 2017 was a great winter year in Sierra
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.
We’ve 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 wouldn’t call it picturesque. So we moved further as it was amazingly awesome ridge that we had to traverse before getting to our next goal – 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. I’ve promised myself that I will comeback there one day, so we shall see.
Descending down the time was upon us and we’ve hit the 12129 lake just before the sunset. We were very limi
Mount Shasta – this was an incredible team roundtrip from SoCal all the way upstate in a rented van. It kept surprising me how drastic were change in the landscape as we were passing SF. Shasta is the final (or one of finals) volcanoes in Cascade Range (as it scarcest towards the south), but you can surely feel the NW vibe (with pines, greenery) - drastic contrast to what we get in SoCal.
Knowing that Shasta is a local variation of (4th tallest) – aka Baldy (in terms of visitors) we took the Hotlum Bolum ridge, avoiding crowds on the main trail and indeed it paid us back by a decent feeling of solitude and isolation. The approach was actually quite straightforward, but that year was high on wildfires so it was somewhat hard to breath until we broke through smoke around 10k-ish ft. I don’t hold precise memory of where we camped, but I think it was 13k and the weather was good enough for us to just cowboy-style bivy near some large boulders to protect us from the wind. Because it’s a volcano, boulders are sharp and unsteady – surely something to keep in mind.
Summiting we’ve met a great number of people and at that time it indeed felt more like Baldy on summer Saturday morning, but it was ok.
this was a a solo trip although it started with Rob who was with Tarah and (as far as i remember someone else) so quickly parted their company and shoot for Dade. This was a weekend right after a light snow so it added much needed texture to otherwise bare rock.
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 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.
Mount Sill – This was my second attempt that year and overall. We’ve tried earlier in the season w/ Peter and Sarah but it was too much snow to plow through. Coming back much later – in October – for a semi-photo tour of North Fork of Big Pine Creek. Stayed overnight right at the Second Lake to observe Temple Crag in the morning (wink-wink – it isn’t getting much sunrise). But while the sunrise wasn’t exactly colorful (by Eastern Sierra standards), we still loved it – after all how can you not like this area – duh, any time. We promptly proceeded to Palisade Glacier and I remember how far snow retreated since the last time of my visit.
It’s a rugged terrain, in fact I wouldn’t be there much longer than absolutely necessary as for the rock fall is constant and quite real (I almost got hit by a giant boulder once on the U notch descending NorPal)
Topping the saddle between Sill and Gayley I remember guys decided to proceed to latter while I was set on Sill (doing the previous “undones” is a strong motivator, right?). Slow as I was, guys patiently waited for me on the top of Gayley and took some awesome pictures across (see Rob’s flow)
One memory that will stay w/ me forever was a giant boulder that me and Lorenzo unwillingly dislodged upon the descend. It was not just massive, it was a size of a full-size truck, rolling down it produced so much noise and almost took Lorenzo w/ it. It was scary.
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
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
Polemonium Peak to Mt. Sill traverse – end of September - we took west side to avoid U-notch couloir. Started from South Lake (that day I met Gilberto first time).
We arrived at the camp spot, just below Agassiz, around 11pm and it was rather cold already (summers are not that long in Sierra) so we traded the dinner over a good night sleep (as good as it gets assuming the start around 3am)
I remember Lorenzo was very angry on Jose who left the only propane tank and stove out and it got too cold to work (one stove for the 4 of us.. – underestimation)
We caught up with Gill (who started from the parking lot) only at U-Notch. Sarah and Peter were already close to the summit of Polemonium when I first caught sight of them. It was a windy and rather cold morning on the west side of this 14er, nonetheless Gill scaled it in shorts, and without protection – a man of courage, paragon! It’s an “upper Class 4”, ropes are highly recommended - 30 meter is enough (unlike the neighboring North Pal – 60 meter) The most thrilling part is actually the descend from Polemonium around V-Notch to above Polemonium Glacier (believed to be the highest glacier in Eastern Sierra Nevada). There is a fin-like ridge that one has to down climb and it’s a pure thrill.
We then proceeded to Mount Sill, where Peter and Sarah had some campaign (because why not). It was getting late so we quickly descended below Sill and aimed for Potluck Pass, south-west of Mt. Jepson. Potluck Pass to the base of Agassiz – I stayed at around 12400-12200 and it saved me A LOT of energy! We met Cindy just after the sunset and quickly rushed back to the parking.
Overall – a long haul but I really enjoyed this trip! Nothing like Palisades!
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
Mount Shasta – this was an incredible team roundtrip from SoCal all the way upstate in a rented van. It kept surprising me how drastic were change in the landscape as we were passing SF. Shasta is the final (or one of finals) volcanoes in Cascade Range (as it scarcest towards the south), but you can surely feel the NW vibe (with pines, greenery) - drastic contrast to what we get in SoCal.
Knowing that Shasta is a local variation of (4th tallest) – aka Baldy (in terms of visitors) we took the Hotlum Bolum ridge, avoiding crowds on the main trail and indeed it paid us back by a decent feeling of solitude and isolation. The approach was actually quite straightforward, but that year was high on wildfires so it was somewhat hard to breath until we broke through smoke around 10k-ish ft. I don’t hold precise memory of where we camped, but I think it was 13k and the weather was good enough for us to just cowboy-style bivy near some large boulders to protect us from the wind. Because it’s a volcano, boulders are sharp and unsteady – surely something to keep in mind.
Summiting we’ve met a great number of people and at that time it indeed felt more like Baldy on summer Saturday morning, but it was ok.
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