Sun, Aug 7, 2016
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The 3rd day of the Sierra Challenge had us going deep into the Ansel Adams Wilderness, behind the main crest of the Ritter Range to the 11,000-foot summit of Mt. Bartholomew. The peak was unofficially named for Orland Bartholomew who had made an incredible winter traverse of the High Sierra on skis in 1929, solo. The peak stands tall and almost alone in the Ansel Adams backcountry, with more than 600ft of prominence as it overlooks Iron Creek and the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. Our route would utilize the Beck Lakes Trail, one we hadn't used in previous Challenges.
We had 21 folks for the 6a start
out of Devils Postpile, all but 4-5 heading to
Bartholomew, the others heading to the SPS-listed Iron Mtn. We were not long in
plying the well-used trail
through Devils Postpile and crossing the
bridge over the San Joaquin River. We were still in a large group as we reached
the second fork, everyone following the leaders to the left. In the back with a
few others, I paused when Michael commented, "I think we were supposed to take
the Minaret Falls Trail." The others were following those bound for
Iron Mtn and weren't paying all that much attention. We watched the
majority in front of us
go out of view while we confirmed Michael's suspicion, then four of us turning
back and taking the correct trail. The tactical blunder would not be noticed
by the front group for another mile when Eric figured out the mistake and turned
the others around. It was a costly mistake on what was already going to be a
long day.
Meanwhile, Ken, Michael, Mason and myself headed up the correct route
towards Beck Lakes.
Rob H, who had been futzing with his hydration pack and was dead
last leaving the TH, took the correct course at the junction had ended up
in front of everyone without even realizing it. For hours he wondered how it
was that he hadn't caught up yet with any stragglers and had seen no one all
morning. The four of us reached
Beck Lakes by 8:30a, by which time
Eric had caught himself back up with the front group. He had had to jog much of
it to catch us, something the others weren't able or wanting to do. The lakes
are nestled in a steep-walled glacier cirque on the east side of the crest, the
trail ending just before reaching the lakes. While four of us headed right,
aiming for the crest,
Eric went left to tag two bonus peaks south of
Beck Lakes, Peak 10,663ft and Peak 10,997ft. The first
of these he reported as straightforward class 2, the other with some loose
class 3 to contend with. While he was off chasing these, we found our choice of
route over the crest a good one. After traversing
the north side of the
first lake, we reached the
westernmost lake and began an upward
traverse towards the saddle west of The Watchtower, finding class 2 on both
sides with some very
fine grassy slopes to
take the sting out of what could have been a horrendous talus/boulder slog.
I finally caught up with Rob H at the crest at 9:30a and the two of us went
over the other side into the Iron Creek drainage. Mt. Bartholomew
came into
view about 5min off the crest and it looks quite imposing, rising in a striking
manner at the end of a ridgeline extending southwest from Michael Minaret. We
had hoped to climb the NE Ridge since it was the shortest approach, but this
proved impractical as it drops precipitously from the summit and is almost
certainly class 5. Instead, we dropped 1,500ft
to Iron Creek
before ascending
the other side and traversing high across the east side of Bartholomew over a
disagreeable boulder-fest. We eventually found
a class 2 chute
leading up to
the SE Ridge,
and from there it was more boulders and talus, but all class 2 to the summit.
It took Rob and I 5hr15min to reach the summit with a commanding view
of the backsides of the Minarets and Mt. Ritter to
the north, the
Clark Range and SE Yosemite to
the west, the higher peaks of the Sierra
to
the east and southeast, and an unusual vantage of the San Joaquin's
North Fork drainage to
the south. Michael joined us about 10min later,
making three for
the summit shot.
A register we found dated
back only a year, left by a Gabriel Dumont on a bow hunting trip. We were
already starting down the ridge about 20min later when we came across a number
of the others in succession.
Eric,
Mason,
Sean,
Chris, Iris and Gavin were all
heading up, spread out over about half an hour's time. The next person we saw
was David P back at Beck Lakes - he had gotten to the crest but decided to turn
around. Some of the others heading to the summit - Ken Y, Matt Y, Scott B, we
never saw, but suspect they had passed us undetected over those last few miles.
In crossing back over the Iron Creek drainage, we found a far
less tedious route
on the return, even if it involved dropping a bit further down in
elevation. Rob and I got separated in here somewhere as we pursued slightly
different courses, but eventually regrouped back at
the pass.
Rob proved to have way more reserves than I, jogging his way back
from Beck Lakes
to take the stage win at 9hr15min. I came hobbling in about 35min later.
I had some fun on the way back in bypassing about a mile of the trail, making
a cross-country descent through forested terrain to get
me back to
Devils Postpile a little more directly. At least three others
(Tom B, Patrick O, and
Jeff M) made it back around the same time as myself,
having successfully reached Iron Mtn. There were nine others that had started
from the Agnew TH and gone to the summit of Clyde Minaret via the Rock Route.
Not a bad day at all in the Ansel Adams Wilderness...
Jersey Strategy: Scott continued his run for the Polka Dot Jersey with an additional 4 bonus peaks today. He started by climbed Red Top, then the two unnamed peaks south of Beck Lakes, then after climbing Bartholomew he talked four others into joining him for Starr Minaret. This group was out for an exhausting 15hrs, not returning until after dark.
Continued...
This page last updated: Fri Apr 21 01:00:53 2023
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