July 30, 2005
North Ridge Routes - North Peak and Mount Conness
Joe, Hank
Part 1 of 2
A couple of shadowy characters "glassing" the North Ridge routes on Mt. Conness and North Peak, Yosemite, CA. Our route is in red and goes from Right to Left along the ridges on the skyline.
Inspired once again by Rich Steele's previous adventure on these exact routes as well as a really cool and sufferable variation of the Mt. Conness North Ridge from earlier in the Spring.......well, I had to go! Rich's description was consistent from the Sierra bible excerpts in describing the routes as amazingly aesthetic, frighteningly exposed at times, and built out of perfect and infinite solid granite holds. Still a raw beginner with gusto of a gorilla but the balance of a bull, I was fortunate to have Hank join me for the long day in the Yosemite high country. Hank and I had been climbing local South shore crags for the last month in the warm summer afternoons. We made plans to depart Tahoe at a pre dawn hour on Saturday the 30th. We drove down to Tioga Pass under crystal clear blue skies with a favorable forecast on the horizon.
At Saddlebag Lake Resort, the temperatures were cool and the stove inside was burning. We purchased a one way ticket, hopped the boat taxi and headed towards the North end of the lake.
Mount Dana, and the Dana Couloir still goes! Hank, with our two objectives in the distance:
Morning stillness reflecting pools: North Peak Summer Skiing? Kook Chutes on the left:
The Northeast Couloir of North Peak was transitioning from a Spring ski chute to a Fall ice climb. It was probably closer to an ice climb by this time, or it surely would have been assaulted by some ambitious members of the Cali B.C. Posse - Yo! A group of us had our way with this chute a year ago as reported Here.
After a bit of uphill cross country wandering we reached the base of the Northwest Ridge of North Peak. Our weary bodies were perked by the view of the long and winding snake of a granite ridge stretching out above us. The hiking was mostly over (well, at least the uphill part).
Northwest Ridge of North Peak:
The Northwest ridge is rated at 5.3, but seemed to climb much easier. There were a couple of small brief sections that probably earned the 5th class rating, otherwise it seems more like a 4th class route. The ridge started broad but began to to take on a knife edge feel as we gained elevation. Although the climbing was simple, our minds were sharpened by the exposure on both sides of the narrowing ridge. The views to the north towards the Northeastern Yosemite high country were remarkable, as were the alpine lakes sprinkled to the east towards Lundy Canyon.
The lower section of the ridge had several large gaps in the ridge requiring passage. The two pictures above show gaps we downclimbed and then scaled the opposite side. The depth of these gaps made progress up the ridge a little slow. Then we came across another deep one that was just a little narrower....."We can downclimb to the bottom and then back up the other side in probably 5 minutes....or, we can jump across it in, like, 1 second."
Here's Hank landing (unfortunately my photographic timing was just a bit off).
The ridge went from cooler to killer as we ascended. The gap we jumped is visible down the ridge from Hank in the picture on the left. It is the obvious clean faced fracture in the ridge (you can see it was important not to overshoot our landing).
On the North Side of the ridge we peered down into the blue waters of McCabe Lake. The South Side was perched above the permanent snowfields below the east face of North Peak. The views and exposure were distracting, but as you can see in these two pictures the holds were everywhere and the rock was solid.
Nearing the Summit Plateau:
The Northwest ridge of North Peak was a great link up with the even more classic North Ridge of Mount Conness.
Click Here to complete the days journey on the North Ridge of Mount Conness