Mon, Aug 13, 2012
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Etymology |
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Thompson Ridge is a long, rocky ridgeline running north from the summit of Mt.
Thompson to Table Mtn and forming the divide between the Lake Sabrina and South
Lake drainages. Along the undulating ridge are two 13ers, one informally named
Ski Mountaineers, the other unnamed, both I had yet to visit. So I put them on
the agenda for day 4 of the Sierra Challenge, giving each of them 1/2 point. To
complete the Challenge, participants would have to visit both summits. With a
very short approach of less than five miles and the least elevation gain on this
year's list, it was expected to be an easy day. And so it was. The easy days
tend to draw the biggest crowds and this was no exception - we had two dozen
folks for the 6a start at South Lake, the biggest crowd ever for a
non-weekend.
As usual, the crew started off together, slowly stringing itself out over the
next hour as the faster participants forged ahead of those going at a slower
pace. There was not much trail work today, only about an hour's worth. At the
first trail junction we turned right toward Treasure Lakes and
followed it
around until the trail turned more southward. Sean was particularly adamnant
this morning about where we should leave the trail, having recently been in the
area and remembering the route he had used at that time. I didn't think the
point to leave the trail was at all critical, judging from the map, but I admit
I hadn't been in the area to know if there were hidden cliffs or tricky
route-finding. Most of the others seemed to have similar beliefs as my own so
we sort of shrugged Sean off, letting him go where he liked, and continued on
the trail
a bit more before
starting the cross-country.
For the most part is was pretty easy, over very open terrain, much of it
granite slabs dotted with trees (though
not all chose the
easiest way). The large group fairly disintegrated at this point, breaking up
into much smaller groups of twos and threes.
It was a delightful, trailless area north of the Sierra crest, with a dozen
small lakes and a few streams supporting some lush
alpine meadows in stark contrast
to the great deal of rock that is found here. I found myself traveling along
with Jonathan and his nephew Andrew who was nearly as strong as Jonathan. We
lost Jonathan along the way (more accurately, I let him get well ahead and
failed to follow in his footsteps), Andrew and I scrambling together across the
edge of the morraine found on the north side of
Mts. Gilbert and Thompson. It
was not the best of routes as the morraine was characterized by an interminable
amount of rocks and boulders as most morraines are. There were no comforting
green meadows here, just acre upon acre of rock. When we rounded a corner and
could see Ski Mountaineers Peak for the first time, it was not so much
awe-inspiring as
talus-dreading. Laura would later taunt me that
there's a reason they include "Ski" in the name - it's a much better peak to
climb in the springtime than in midsummer. Jonathan rejoined Andrew and I in
the morraine, wondering what had become of us, and the three of us
spent much of the next hour climbing our peak from the SE side.
Sean and Jen
had already come and gone by the time the three of us reached
the summit at
9a. The weather this morning was quite fine and we spent some time enjoying
the views and taking a break while we waited for others to join us.
Tom was the first to arrive about ten minutes later,
Ron and Michael another ten minutes behind Tom. Jonathan and Andrew
had started off to the next peak before we had Adam and Pat join us. We took
a photo with six at
the summit before we
started off ourselves. Probably half of the group had started up the
other peak first,
and there were others further behind us, so the next few hours would see the
smaller groups crossing paths with each other back and forth across the region.
I had read that
the ridgeline between the two summits, about a half
mile apart, was class 3, but it was quickly obvious that is was more difficult
than this, more like class 5 (on the otherhand, two participants headed south
along the ridge to the summit of Mt. Thompson and reported it class 3, as
advertised). Not even Sean tried to follow the ridge directly. The easiest
route appears to be around the east side of the ridge, the trick being to find
the first place to drop down through the northside cliffs on Ski Mountaineer's
East Ridge. Jonathan and Andrew managed to find a way down through the
rock and then a dicey descent down the steep snow found
lower down.
None of us carried
axe or crampons and it was still pretty early for the sun to have softened the
snow much, but somehow they made it work (Sean and Jen did similarly, earlier)
while the
rest of us shook our heads and continued further east along the ridge to look
for an easier way. Michael and Pat followed me down to a saddle of sorts, and
then down a sandy chute that narrowed to a blocky class 3
rock and ice ramp that we used to avoid the snow as long as possible.
There was
much rubble below this, then a traverse towards the second
peak featuring
yet more rubble, a crossing of
a small stream
(where Pat refilled), and finally starting up to the second peak.
Sand and talus characterized the lower two thirds of the South
Slope, the upper third
more interesting boulders that were far less
tedious. There were at least four climbers
ahead of us through these
boulders, including Phil, Jeff and my brother Jim.
It was nearly 11a by the time we reached
the second peak at 13,000ft, located
at the south end of a high plateau that held several other bonus peaks towards
the north. Though it looked intimidating, this second peak proved no harder than
class 2 and had a similar set of views to Ski Mountaineers. Tom and Adam had
soon joined Pat, Michael and myself, getting eight of us to the summit about
the same time. We found Andrew and Jonathan there ahead of us, relaxing and
enjoying
the break before taking off soon thereafter. I didn't stay
long at the summit either, eager to visit the
higher-looking summit
further north with a reported class 5.6 summit block that looked most
interesting.
Adam, Tom Andrew and Phil all decided to join me. There
was little elevation loss between the two and it was very easy to traverse
between them, taking less than 15 minutes. The summit block was another matter.
We took off our packs and walked around the various facets of this tough-looking
block about 16 feet in height. A subsidiary block made it easy to get
one's
hand within two feet of the summit, but then it gets hard. A finger crack is
the only means to pull oneself up the final distance and it was not so easy. The
best climber among us was Tom and he did
a good job of showing us the
technique to
get it done. I asked Adam to spot me while I made the
second effort,
managing it with some grunting and small moments of
panic and quickly getting back down since I was afraid of the reverse moves as
well. As with most things, it looked harder than it was and seemed less of a big
deal afterwards.
Adam went third, taking even more time than myself,
with several false starts before hauling himself up to join Tom who was still at
the summit. Andrew climbed up third while Phil watched us from the side, smiling
and saying he would be just fine without the summit block. I took a picture of
the three at the top before they all descended, in turn.
There were two other bonus peaks in the area, but only Tom had any interest
in them (he was still in the running for the Polka Dot Jersey with Sean). Tom
headed northwest to Peak 12,960ft while the others backtracked to the Challenge
peak to return off the South Slope we had come up. I suggested we might just
drop off the East Face of Peak 13,000ft, but the intial part looked
steep and difficult and I had no takers. So while they headed back I poked
around on the East Face and found
a way down without too much trouble
- it was actually a fun bit of scrambling, the best I found on the day. On my
own now, I dropped down to
a small creek before starting up to an
adjoining ridgeline, aiming for a low saddle with about 200ft of elevation gain.
The east side of the saddle
led down much more elevation, dropping to
a larger creek and yet more elevation loss. It was a very enjoyable
cross-country jaunt that had no major difficulties once I had gotten off the
summit of Peak 13,000ft and I enjoyed
the solitude wandering by myself
for most of an hour. My route turned out to be a much straighter return to the
trail and faster too, as the others would be surprised I had gotten ahead of
them.
I was only a few minutes from returning to the trail when I spotted a couple of
dayhikers coming up the slope towards me. They turned out to be friends of
Laura, coming up to pay her a visit and bring her some treats. Back on the
trail I caught up with Pat and the two of us spent about half an hour
running our way back to the trailhead. Further behind, but not by much,
Jonathan caught up with us only minutes from the end by jogging even
faster. It was 1:20p when the three of us
pulled in to the South Lake
TH. We found Sean and Jen there,
having already been back for half an hour. Others started trickling in within
five minutes of our return and would continue to do so over the next several
hours. We set up shop under the open tailgate of my van, Sean enjoying one of
his favorites,
a burrito made with a can of
mixed vegetables. Laura provided a
nice selection of beers
when she and Chris returned around 1:45p (she did not
run into her friends in the backcountry as we had). The weather for most of the
day had been quite nice, but like on the previous two days, clouds began
gathering around noon and were threatening by 2p. The first drops started
falling by 2:30p and quickly put a halt to our outdoor party. We would have to
take it back to Bishop in order to stay dry. And like on the previous two days,
those that were out on the trail in the late afternoon would have to put up with
some rain...
The topo map shows three sub-peaks all with a closed 13,000-foot contour at the location of the second peak of the day. This isn't accurate. There are only two peaks that are near equal in height, the northern one with the 5.6 summit block being higher by 12-16ft.
Jersey Strategy: Michael lost another five minutes' time on me for the Yellow Jersey, increasing my lead to 50 minutes. Sean and Tom both climbed the same peaks on the day, keeping them tied with a total of eight peaks in four days. Jonathan continued to dominate the Green (over 50yrs) Jersey and would face no real threat unless he took a day off or got injured. Kevin maintained his lead in the White Jersey (under 25yrs) by climbing Trapezoid today with JD.
Continued...
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