Day 3 of the Sierra Challenge was another early 4a start, this time at Lake Sabrina. Charybdis lies deep in the Ionian Basin far west of the Sierra crest, and as far as I know was only dayhiked once (by Matthew, who else?) a few years earlier. We planned to follow the same route he had taken over Echo Col, and in addition I hoped to make the summit of nearby Black Giant to tick off two more of the remaining SPS peaks on my ever-shrinking list.
There were nine of us at 
the start,
though Tom and Glenn planned to join us
only as far as Echo Lake before peeling off to do Picture, Haeckel, and Wallace
as an alternative. Others planned to do various combinations of these three
peaks as well, but they arranged a later 6a start to gain the extra sleep. By
headlamp we made our way up the trail to 
Blue Lake
and over to Dingleberry where 
the crossing
of Bishop Creek was made easier this year due to some trail
work that added twice as many rocks to the creek crossing. It was growing light
out by the time we reached the turnoff just before Hungry Packer Lake and we
took 
a short break
here to put away some clothes and allow the group of seven to reassemble.
Our next regrouping came at 
Echo Lake after passing by
Moonlight Lake and
dealing with a few tedious boulder fields. The lake was still in the morning
shade but Clyde Spires was brightly illuminated high above its far side.
We followed the standard route around the 
east side of the lake
contouring high to avoid snow sections, making some use of a series of ducks
leading through this moderate cliff band. We found the
snow field north of
Echo Col to have less coverage than we might had expected. There would be no
need for crampons and axe as the snow ended below the col before the angle grew
appreciably steep. At the bottom of the snow field I spotted what looked like
a cache of old, rusty gear, looking rather out of place where it lay. Upon
closer inspection it turned out to be 
the remains of a small
aircraft.
The pieces had likely been scattered higher on the glacier at one time, but had
moved downward with the ice flow and eventually come to rest in a
tangled mass
against the rocks at the base of the glacier. Four years earlier on our last
visit there had been no sign of the plane, but it seemed clear that the wreck
was much older than that and must have been buried beneath the snow in previous
years.
Days later I learned via email that: "it is a twin engine Beechcraft Model 50E 'Twin Bonanza' built in the 1950's. This accident occurred on 5/28/93 killing four persons and the registration is N2R. Weather was a factor in this accident, gusty winds, clouds, and icing conditions. Much of the wreckage was recovered by helicopter for study by the NTSB leaving about 15% plus on site."
A year later I got another email detailing a different scenario: "It appears that the wreckage you found is from a Beech Baron, twin engine, airplane that crashed in 2004. It was partially recovered. The NTSB investigated the accident which claimed three souls."
In 2011 I received a third email from Kyle Atkins with yet another, more likely story: "I traversed the Col W-E in Aug 1981. And my notes say 'Came across a fresh plane crash E. of Echo Col.' As I recall, I took the log book to the sheriff's office. It was my impression it was a single engine plane that had hit the col and fallen back onto the ice comming to rest in the center of the glacier. Came over the Col again in Aug 1989 and did not see any of the plane."
Kyle sent me 
a photo he had taken of the plane and one can see the
door appears to match with the one I had seen 28 years later given
the inevitable changes due to snow and glacier movement.
When we reached the 
upper edge
of the snow field we paused to leave axe and
crampons. I had no axe to begin with, but I kept my crampons in the event I
decided to come back via another route. I was still dreaming of bigger things
at this time, but they would not come to fruition. As was becoming routine,
Sean
was the first to reach Echo Col shortly before 7:45a. The rest of us came
up 
one after the other
and wasted no time in 
starting down the other side. As
Matthew had promised, the 
south side of the pass was a
pleasant stroll in
comparison to the north side, at least once the initially steep
sand/talus/boulder slope was overcome.
Lake 11,428ft
is a surprisingly large body of water encountered about half way
down to the JMT. Just above this it was necessary to find
a way through one
cliff band, not too difficult since we collectively found several ways to get
through it. At the downstream side of 
the lake
is another cliff band though
easier if one is careful in descending the ample supply of boulders piled
up here, one upon the other.
Sean was already waiting 
at the JMT
when I reached it shortly after 8:30a. 
The others were not long
catching up. We rested a bit, ate some breakfast and
enjoyed our surroundings in the picturesque 
LeConte Canyon.
It was the last
time we were all together as a group. For almost an hour
we made 
our way west 
along the JMT,
climbing steadily to 
Helen Lake, southeast
of Mt. Warlow. Our party spread out in clumps along the trail, eventually
breaking off and heading cross-country to the south after passing by Helen Lake.
In the lead, Sean and Dan headed directly for 
Black Giant Pass
enroute towards Charybdis. Matthew had continued up to Muir Pass to climb
Solomons
instead. Looming high my left was 
Black Giant and I decided I should
probably climb that one first should I choose a different return from Charybdis
(I was still fantasizing about tagging Solomons as well). So as the others
followed after Sean to the pass, I made a diagonally right-ascending traverse
up the West Slopes of Black Giant. The scrambling was over boulder and talus
for the most part with little to recommend it. As I toiled up the slope I would
pause to look over my right shoulder to see Charybdis 
come into view
beyond the pass, and eventually a 
fine purview
of the whole mountain and the pretty mountain lake at its base.
The upper portion of Black Giant's summit had a dark volcanic cliff band
guarding the direct approach. I could have gone around to the right over easy
ground much like I'd been on, but the change in rock piqued my interest and I
spent some time to find a class 3 route through the small cliff. Above this,
as I was nearing the summit, I was surprised to see Sean making his way towards
me from above. He had just tagged the summit after making good time up from
Black Giant Pass, almost on a whim, it would seem. This was one fast guy. He
bid me goodbye and 
headed back to the pass and then on to
Charybdis while I took another few minutes to reach the summit.
The climbing hadn't been very good, but the views were outstanding. One had
a bird's eye view of LeConte Canyon and could see 
far east
across Dusy Basin and the high peaks of the Palisades from Agassiz to Split.
Looking south was a view along the spine of the Black Divide to
McDuffie, Wheel, and Devils Crags. To the west was the 
Ionian Basin
and the LeConte and White Divides behind it. Mt. Goddard rises high to the
northwest, the monarch of the region, and to the north are an assembly of peaks
around the 
Evolution Basin and beyond to Humphreys, Tom, and the
Abbot Group. It was truly a visual feast to behold. Along with
the register there was a 1947 
USGS benchmark.
The register was only recently placed, and the single 
piece of paper
pre-dating it was only three years old.
For the first time in years I had brought a
real lunch with me to a summit, a
sandwich I had picked up at Vons the day before. It was hugely satisfying and
I resolved to bring more sandwiches on these long outings in the future. After
about 20 minutes I had finished my lunch, packed up, and started back towards
Black Giant Pass.
I didn't actually reach the pass on my way to Charybdis, thinking I could take
a more direct route 
to the peak.
What I didn't know was that there is a significant 
cliff
between Black Giant's summit and 
the lake on the way to
Charybdis, a short distance just above the lake. As I came down the slopes I
was lured into the steeper terrain until I was fairly well committed to finding
a way through it. I was fortunate enough to find a way down on the first try,
but overall I don't think my route was any faster than if I had detoured to
Black Giant Pass over easier terrain.
I skirted the northwest side of the lake to its outlet draining west into the
upper reaches of Enchanted Gorge. I crossed the outlet and started up
Charybdis' 
NE Ridge.
From the bottom I could see several climbers already atop
the summit. Others would arrive over the next ten minutes or so as I began the
long scramble. Although the rock quality wasn't that great, I found the
scramble highly enjoyable and very scenic. I was half way up after about 20
minutes when I 
came across Adam on his way down.
Ahead of the others, he was
feeling energetic and planned to visit Black Giant on the way back. I told him
there was a good chance he'd see me again before long.
About ten minutes from the summit I came across the rest of the group coming
down 
one after 
the other.
Sean was with them, having reached the summit about
the same time as the last of the lead group. Did I mention this guy was fast?
As I pulled up to what I thought was the summit I was only mildly dismayed to
find a yet higher summit 
to the south,
thankfully only a few minutes further.
There
was a short bit of hard class 3 downclimbing to be had before reaching easier
ground and eventually the summit just after 12:30p. I had the summit all to
myself.
To be honest, it gave me a rather lonely feeling. If I'd come here on my own it
would have been no big deal, but to find myself the last of a group to be left
on this remote mountaintop had me wanting to hurry and catch up. I resisted the
urge though it hardly mattered - they were far ahead and out of sight. Like
the Black Giant register, 
the one
on Charybdis was quite recent, placed by Lisa Barboza 
in 2006.
The second and 
third entries were Tom Becht and Matthew
Holliman, only ten days apart in 2007. In all there were five pages filled in
and I added my name to the bottom of the 
last page.
Oddly, there were only four
of the five names I had expected. Matthew I knew had peeled off somewhere to
head for Mt. Solomons, but Curtis' name was missing as well. Later I found that
he climbed only partway up the NE Ridge before turning around due to fatigue.
I left the summit after taking my photographs and spending all of ten minutes
or so. It took a bit over an hour to descend the route back to the lake and
then climb back up 
to Black Giant Pass.
In descending the north side of the pass
I came across 
two climbers
heading for Black Giant who I at first mistook for
some late arriving Challenge participants. No, they were camped somewhere along
the JMT and had just come up for the afternoon climb - they were as surprised
to see me as I was them. Shortly after that I heard a whooping call coming from
the slopes of Black Giant. It was not hard to guess it was Adam returning from
the summit.
The two of us 
continued together
back to Helen Lake and down the JMT for the
next hour or so. We 
left the JMT
a bit higher and further west from where we
joined it in the morning, a slightly more direct tack back towards Echo Col.
Adam began to flag as we climbed the steep slopes between the JMT and Lake
11,428ft. When the lake came into view after cresting the rise, I spotted
Michael making his way 
along the lakeshore
several hundred yards ahead. I made
an extra effort to 
catch up
to him, got fairly close without being seen, and
startled him out of his stupor (or his contemplative pursuits, as he may have
preferred it to be called). The toll of nine days' effort was wearing on him
(Michael had started the Challenge six days before the rest of us, so he had
put in considerably more miles than anyone else by this time).
I left Michael and Adam together in 
the narrow chute
breaching the upper cliff
band and continued making good time 
to Echo Col.
I was feeling quite good at
this point and thought I might be able to catch up to the lead group of three
(Sean, Dan, Curtis) who I had spied about 15 minutes ahead just as the last of
them reached Echo Col.
By the time I had reached Echo Col myself I could see the other three below on
the 
snow field,
having just retrieved their gear cached in the rocks and
starting to make their way down. It would have been impossible to catch Sean
or Dan traveling solo or together, but they were helping to escort Dan's friend
Curtis back over the col and this was causing them to go at a slower pace then
they would have otherwise managed. I thought for sure I would be able to catch
them all before reaching 
Echo Lake.
Dropping down from the col, working my way over snow and boulder fields, I did
indeed come 
across Curtis
a few minutes before reaching Echo Lake. He was by
himself and the other two were nowhere to be seen. They had evidently caught
sight of me catching up to them and decided to beat it, or perhaps had decided
that once near Echo Lake Curtis could manage the remaining distance on his own.
I never saw the other two again that day. Back on the trail, somewhere above
Blue Lake, I came across Karl making his way back from a successful outing to
Haeckel and Wallace. He reported that Sean and Dan had passed him about 30
minutes earlier, talking a little paranoid about me catching up to them. "He's
going to start running, I know it!" Sean had commented. They must have jogged
back much of the distance themselves because they beat me to the trailhead by
at least 10 minutes. Just before reaching the trailhead at 6:45p, I came
across Scott Hanson. He had been attempting Picture Peak, turning back before
reaching the summit, but looking satisfied with an enjoyable outing. We hiked
out the remaining short distance
to the trailhead together while we chatted.
As on the first day I had very little time left in the day before it was time to get to bed again. Now that two of the three hardest days were done, and I had felt pretty good in doing them, my confidence level was at its highest and I would sleep satisfied, even if the sleep was rather less than I might hoped.
Jersey Strategy: After three days, only Michael and I had climbed the three Challenge peaks from 2009. By the third day I had more than 5.5hrs cumulative lead on Michael which should be more than enough to beat him in the race for the Yellow Jersey. The only threat was if someone climbed a "twofer" to end with 11 Challenge Peaks, and with eight participants having three Challenge peaks at this point, it was a very real possibility. Adam was clearly the favorite for the White Jersey (under 25yrs) and Karl was emerging with the best shot for the Green Jersey (over 50yrs). Both were in the group with three Challenge peaks. The Polka Dot (King of the Mountain, most total peaks) had no clear favorite at this point.
Continued...