In perusing the maps I thought I'd come across a shorter route to McGee with an approach from the north via McGee Canyon and using the NE Spur. This route was rated class 4 which I took to be an old school rating and therefore highly variable. The only information available was the short blurb in Secor's book. I found no trip reports describing a climb from the north side. I planned to take a rope and small amount of gear with me in case it turned out to be fifth class. But in the early morning hour at North Lake before the climb, as I polled the various participants, it seemed those heading to McGee preferred the longer but safer approach from the south via Wanda Lake. Not willing to tackle the unknown route alone, it seemed easier to leave the rope in the car and save the weight. I swapped it out for a few more bottles of Gatorade and prepared to join the others.
We had a dozen at the trailhead for the start, although not all of the
participants made it in time for
the photo. Matthew, Glenn, and Tom were heading
to The Hermit for Matthew's SPS list finish, though much of the approach route
would be the same as for McGee, heading over Lamarck Col. It seemed we had
half a dozen folks who planned to head for McGee, more than would likely make
it, but as is usually the case, this gets sorted out in the first four or five
hours on the trail.
There was a somewhat loose group of eight that kept within sight of each other
for the trek up to 
Lamarck Lakes by headlamp
and 
the start of the Lamarck Col Trail. Soon afterwards
this became a group of five in two sub-groups. Matthew, Brian, and Peter
were out in front keeping a very healthy pace. Rick and I were not far behind,
but could not manage to catch up despite our efforts to do so. Not long after
sunrise we reached the east side of Lamarck Col.
A 
lone backpacker was encamped here, still asleep in his tent.
From the lake Rick and I watched the three leaders traverse out onto the
snowfield just 
below the col, then we scrambled up
the boulders to reach the snow ourselves.
The snow was hard, as expected, but a boot track had been layed out across the
snow making it possible to cross without axe or crampons if one traveled
carefully. Rick followed the traversing course used by the other three while I
decided to head up in a more direct fashion scrambling over rock to avoid the
long snow traverse. As it turned out my route led to Lamarck Col, the other way
to a point north of it. I took a few photos looking
east and 
west sides of
the col, then started down - it was too cold and windy to take a break there as
we have in the past.
Rick and I rejoined on our way down the sand and boulders into
Darwin Canyon, aiming for the second highest of 
the lakes
found there. We continued our chase
of the lead group along the use trail on the north side of the lakes, catching
glimpses of them periodically but never catching up. We saw no one back up at
Lamarck Col and lost touch with the rest of the tribe behind us. By the time
we reached 
Darwin Bench
at the mouth of Darwin Canyon just before 8a we were
finally in the sun and could start to warm up. It was going to be a fine day.
Rick and I lost the others completely shortly before reaching Darwin Bench. We
had little trouble finding the use trail heading down to the JMT and by 8:15a
we had reached 
this junction.
We had expected to find Matthew here waiting for
Tom and Glenn to head off to The Hermit, but there was no one around. As we took
a short break I brought up the idea of the NE Spur once again. Rick did
not immediately reject it as I had expected, but seemed to be mulling it over.
The prospect of a shorter day was appealing to both of us. "What about the
class 4?" he asked. I responded, "Well, so far I haven't found a Sierra class 4
that has stumped me." He came back, "What about me?" Well, that was a bit of
a dilemma that only Rick could answer for himself. Somewhat to my surprise, he
agreed to give it a go. My enthusiasm (and trepidation) for McGee had suddenly
increased and I was ready and eager.
We headed down the JMT into 
Evolution Valley, leaving the trail to
contour around the NW side of 
The Hermit to reach McGee Canyon. We
found a nice spot to 
jump across
Evolution Creek and headed up across 
easy terrain under
open forest.
I knew there was a use trail heading up McGee Canyon; I had been on it
many years earlier on my first visit to the area, but I forgot which side of
the creek it was on. Luckily the cross-country was easy enough and it wasn't
until we were halfway up the canyon and out from under the majority of the
forest that we discovered it on the west side of the creek (whereas we had been
hiking up the east side of the creek the whole time).
Mt. McGee's 
North Face made a picturesque backdrop for the remainder
of the hike up 
the canyon. Snows lingered at the base of the face,
but 
the route up the NE Spur was completely snow-free as far as we
could see. We took 
a break in the middle of the canyon in this
idyllic setting. 
Rick showed none of the fatigue he had had on
our most recent outing to North Guard and appeared in fine shape. We were both
enjoying the day immensely.
By 10a we had reached 
McGee Lakes at the base of our route and
paused here to
get the last bit of water we were likely to find for some time. Our route up
the NE Spur looked fairly straightforward for the most part. I expected we
would easily reach the lower east summit before coming to the crux between it
and the higher middle summit. The 
scrambling on the NE Spur was as
good as we
could have hoped, basically solid rock with scatterings of talus on the ledges,
but enjoyable. The only evidence of other visitors we found on the route
were 
the remains of a
pair of circa-1970 sunglasses with a red/white/blue laminated frame that
were quite popular for a time.
The 
cleaner granite of the NE Spur turned to more
volcanic choss as we neared the east summit, some of the climbing
turning to harder class 3 slowing us somewhat. Finding no register at the east
summit, we paused 
to observe the route up the middle summit, not
altogether comfortable with 
what we found. It was
quite frightening actually, but we told ourselves that the face would look far
less vertical when we were actually upon it. We picked our way down through
the serrated ridgeline to 
the saddle between the two summits. Rick
pointed down
to our left, noting the class 2 talus chute we could take down to the south
side if the class 4 proved too difficult. It would be tough having to lose
1,300ft of elevation only to reclimb it by another chute, but we were happy to
have this option "just in case."
From the saddle the east face of the middle summit did not look any easier. We had correctly identified the "dihedral and crack" mentioned by Secor, but it looked far harder than class 4. So much so that my first instinct was to look for another route, perhaps one that had eluded previous parties. I climbed up from the saddle keeping to the edge between the east and north faces. Rick climbed up part way, then watched as I probed around on the north side looking for an alternate. Unfortunately the only thing I could find involved some near-vertical walls connected by ledges sloping downwards over the precipitous N. Face without much in the way of hand holds. I balked. "Maybe you should go over to the base of the dihedral and get a closer look," I suggested.
As I slowly retreated from my somewhat precarious perch, Rick traverse out to
the 
east face
to examine the crux. It did indeed look a little easier from
close up, but it was still formidable. There were two ways to the base of the
dihedral and we first examined the lower, easier-to-reach point. After Rick had
a look at it he backed off and allowed me a closer inspection. It was not easy.
The hardest part looked to be at the very start with a long reach and a pull-up
over an exposed position. I contemplated this for several minutes as my legs
began to weaken at the stance, then commented, "Maybe we should try the other
start."
The second option involved a traverse across a thin ledge blocked by a large stone the size of large TV. It appeared necessary to hang on this block with the body lurching outward in order to get around it, but neither of us were too trusting that the block wouldn't pull out and suddenly plunge us downward some 100ft to certain harm. It was some more minutes that this was contemplated before I worked up the courage to trust it, and thankfully it didn't budge. Being a good 10-15lbs lighter than I, Rick was probably safe as well. From the stone it was a short distance to the dihedral. There was a gap at the vertex of the diehedral, a chimney of sorts about 1/2 the width of my body, running about 30ft up at an incline of perhaps 70 degrees. The gap wasn't wide enough to get my body into, but it was wide enough that I felt confident I could stuff enough appendages in to secure me tightly in the process of climbing it. I started up.
At first Rick 
stood at the base
of the dihedral with neck strained to watch me
struggle upwards. The first rocks that came tumbling out sent him for cover,
after which he wisely moved off to the side to get out of the fall line. The
climb involved a great deal of struggle on my part. Evidently used by only a
few parties in the past, there were several loose chockstones and other debris
that caused the racing of my heart and more deliberate attention to the moment.
Afterwards I described the climbing as desperate because it really pushed my
strength to the limit, but I never felt exposed as though I were going to fall
out and crash. At worst it seemed I might wedge myself in so tightly that
extraction could be made impossible.
There was a parallel crack about 10ft right of the dihedral that started about half way up. The climbing looked easier in this second crack and it appeared that a small ledge would allow me to move from one to the other after about 15ft. When I reached this point I found the ledge illusional and without climbing shoes I had no confidence I could bridge the gap. My only choice seemed to be to struggle to the top of the dihedral and hope for the best. After another tough section the climbing became easier and I scurried to the top of the dihedral where I found a small stance where I could rest and catch my breath. In all I had spent about 10 minutes on the effort, though of course it seemed much longer and my limbs felt spent.
From below
Rick asked how it looked above. As far as I could see it was easier
from that point on. Rick mulled it over for a few minutes before pronouncing
he had no confidence to follow me. I was suddenly struck with the thought of
the rope we had unfortuitously left back in the car. It would have been an
easy matter to secure a stance and toss a rope down to him had we had it now.
If only...
While I like to cajole and persuade as much as the next guy, I do not feel at
ease doing so to get someone to climb something they aren't feeling at the
moment. I had to let Rick make up his own mind, offering that although the
climbing was indeed hard (it would probably rate class 5.6 or so by today's
standards), I didn't feel exposed and fearful. Rick resolved to head back to
the saddle and take the alternate route down the south side. We bid each other
goodbye and went in opposite directions.
The climbing above was indeed easier, much to my relief. I had had enough of the hard stuff for one day. What I hadn't appreciated until now was just how close we were to the summit - it took less than ten minutes to reach the top. I really felt for Rick who I knew would be delayed by hours taking the other route, and this muted my sense of elation I might normally have upon reaching a difficult summit.
The register, placed 
in 1997
by Tina Stough (now Bowman) had eleven pages of
entries in the intervening years including the 
2005 dayhike entry
by Matthew and
a host of other easily recognized names. I had expected to see Michael Graupe's
name as the last entry - he had started an hour earlier than the rest of us in
order to give himself more time. That I had beaten him to the summit provided
some measurable amount of satisfaction. I looked around to the west to scan
the rocks, but saw no sign of him.
My next order of business was to get myself safely off McGee. The original plan called for a traverse over the west summit to Peter Peak for the bonus, then descend back to McGee Canyon. The route from the middle to west summit was given a class 3-4 rating, somewhat easier, but after that last bit of class 4 I was understandably concerned. I figured at worse I could descend the chute between the middle and west summits to Davis Lake and take the long way back.
As I was traversing across the ridgeline of the middle summit I heard a voice
calling over, looked around, and 
found Michael
only minutes from the summit. His
salt-stained face had a worn look to it, he was tired but making progress. He
said he had seen another climber behind him down by Davis Lake, but had seen no
sign of him for some time. He could only guess who it might be as he did not
have a good look. I surmised it couldn't have been Rick, but must have been one
of the others heading to McGee. I tried to talk Michael into my plan of
returning to McGee Canyon via Peter Peak, but he would have none of it. He
would be satisfied with the longer but surer route he had already taken up.
Upon parting, I continued to the notch between the two westernmost summits and
surveyed the rock above leading to the west summit. It did not look hard at all
and I immediately began making my way up directly from the notch. Secor's
directions were somewhat convoluted but I think unnecessarily so. I found it
pretty straightforward class 3 climbing directly up to the summit. I reached
the top of the west summit (or rather one of the tops -there are several
at this broken summit of similar height) about the same time that Michael
completed 
his traverse to the highpoint.
From the west summit I found a class 2 boulder slope leading down the
northwest side
to the saddle with Peter Peak. It was also class 2 leading up the summit
of Peter, about 400ft above the saddle. The going was all very straightforward
and I was able to cover the distance from McGee's middle summit to Peter Peak
in about an hour. I was mildly disappointed to find no sign of a register atop
Peter, not even as much as a pile of rocks. I'm guessing it sees very few
visitors.
Secor describes a class 2 route off Peter that first descends the NE Ridge to
a notch, then follows a loose class 2 chute down the east side. I had been
observing Peter Peak during our ascent of McGee since we had a fine view of it
from that angle and was able to pick out the obvious chute that goes from the
base all the way up to the notch in a clean sweep. But negotiating
the ridgeline
to reach the chute was not an easy matter and looked like it could be
tedious class 3 on loose volcanic rock. The face directly below the summit on
the east side had a number of possible chutes that looked to converge in a
wide, steep cirque just above a cliff band. It looked possible to work my way
down through the cliff band so I decided to take this much more direct route
not described in Secor. After carefully downclimbing about 30ft to the easier
sand/talus, there was much boot skiing to be had in quick fashion for hundreds
of feet until I found myself at the top of the cliff band. I then picked my way
to the left (north) side of the cirque where I found a
narrow chute leading
diagonally down through the cliff band. It worked beautifully and I was soon
on the snowfield at the bottom.
The snow turned out to be fortuitous as well. The large amphitheater formed on
the north side by McGee and Peter is a giant moraine that would have made for
a tedious crossing over loose and shifting boulders. The snowfield was soft
enough to walk on without crampons or axe, but not too soft that I would
posthole, and it had a tongue extending
down the drainage heading north in
exactly the direction I needed to go. As narrow as a few feet in spots, it made
a beautiful runway to get me through the boulder mess. At one point it
ended abruptly,
only to have a second snowfield waiting just out of view another
40-50yds below. This second snowfield allowed an exit onto more stable
alpine terrain
in McGee Canyon and it was fairly easy to find my way back to the
use trail.
A second hour had elapsed between the summit of Peter Peak and regaining
the use trail. I was convinced this route had to be much faster than the route
around Davis Lake.
I spent a bit more than three hours retracing my route back down McGee Canyon
to 
the JMT, up to 
the junction
with the Lamarck Col route, up 
Darwin Bench and 
Canyon
and finally back to 
Lamarck Col which I reached at 5:40p. I was quite
tired by this time, but not nearly as tired as I'd been on the Mt. Goddard hike
when I had to stop every twenty feet on my way back up to the col at the end
of the day. This time I was able to keep up a steady albeit slow pace and was
in good spirits as I crossed back over to the east side of the Sierra crest.
On my way back down the Lamarck Trail I somehow stumbled on an old
horse trail
that originates at Grass Lake. I recognized right away that it wasn't the
usual return route, but I could guess it had to lead back to North Lake
eventually so I continued to 
follow it all the way down.
Although the route past 
Grass Lake
was a bit longer than the usual route past Lamarck Lakes, it was
nice to have new scenery and explore an old trail.
It was after 7:30p before I 
got back to the van,
having seen none of the other Challenge participants since I had left Michael
near the summit of McGee. I'd gotten back before sunset which was my primary
goal, but I needed to get back to Bishop, showered, and into bed as soon as
practical. I was scheduled to get up at 5a the next morning and I was just
beginning to find out how much sleep would be in short supply during the event
this year...
Although I didn't know it when I returned, my time of 15:30 was the fastest of those going to both McGee and The Hermit. Michael was followed to the summit of McGee by Brian and some time later by Rick. Peter, who had been in the lead group with Matthew and Brian found himself out of energy when he reached Davis Lake and returned without summiting. Four others including Matthew, Tom, Glenn, and Daria reached the summit of The Hermit. Thoroughly exhausted, Rick was the last of all these to return to the trailhead, taking until nearly 1a before reaching his car.
Continued...