Sierra Trip May-June 2003

Karl Runde, Mark Pratt, Orlando Warren 

On Day One, we ditched a car at Onion Valley then drove to Big Pine and hiked to Lake Two.  In the parking lot of Big Pine, Orlando demonstrated an uncanny ability to pack for the mountains without using stuff sacks.   We set up camp between Lakes One and Two .

On Day Two for conditioning, we climbed to the Palisade glacier and then encircled Gayle and Temple mountains, returning through Contact Pass.  At the Sil-Gayle col I experience the wonder of duct tape     modifications to my glasses while we get a good view of the U-notch couloir, our intended pass over the divide.  .  Orlando poses with Gayle in the background while I model the sunscreen moustache in front of the Swiss Arête on Sil.

In this rare footage, we caught the Unabomber enjoying a glissade on the NE slopes of Sil.   Approaching Contact Pass, we had a good view South to Thumb mountain.

On Day Three we decided (after some pre-dawn discussions) to climb the Sun Ribbon Arête on Temple.  This is the prominent line rising from the red and white buttress near the center of the mountain.  The route was long so we employed some simulclimbing blocks and simul-following on pitches to speed things up.  Here are some shots of Karl leading out on the lower sections of the route - by far the most enjoyable.  A bit further up we performed the Tyrolean Traverse with little trouble but I didn't manage to get a picture.  From there things slowed down a bit as we wove in and out and over numerous towers on the ridge.  Here is Karl leading a "moderate" but committing traverse towards the crux of the route.  From this point on the route, we could look back to our campsite on the rock ridge between Lakes 1 and 2.  I erased the summit shots to make some room for more pictures.

Day Four was a rest day on which we sent out extraneous gear and food with Orlando. 

Day Five was the largest elevation gain of the trip.  We left the lakes at about 10,200 and proceeded up to a col above the Palisade Glacier at 12,300 where we re-established camp (by simply dropping most of our gear on a rock.   From here on out, we didn't bother to set up a tent.  We then proceeded up to the Sil-Gayle col again and the on to the Swiss Arete on Sil .  Here are pictures of Karl leading on the lower section  and following on some 4th class near the top.   Because of the views and quality of rock, I'm now putting this in my top-ten alpine rock routes.   Here are shots from the 14k' summit of Karl , Polemonium Peak next door and Day Six's descent route, and me.  Here is Karl shortly before he disappeared up to his waist in a pit and got his foot wedged in some talus.  A few well-aimed blows with an ice axe freed him.

Day Six began the serious travel part of the outing.  After a 4am start, we headed toward U-notch.

to hopefully catch it before it softened.  Here is Karl on the final steep section just beating out the sun.  From the U-notch, we proceeded up lower 5th class rock to the Polemonium summit laden with big packs and boots.  The traverse from summit to the slopes we viewed from Sil was pleasant .  After some soft snow wallowing to a basin above Palisade Lakes, we made camp on some rocks with a nice view to the south . 

Early on Day Seven we clambered down to Palisade Lakes and over Mather pass.  Because of soft snow, we were beat by the time we made the pass. We made camp at the north end of the upper basin and investigated skeletal remains on our rock outpost .  Karl was already healing from his climbing scuffs from Sun Ribbon Arête and starting to think about the N. Face of Clarence King again.

Day Eight involved a 3:30am roll out to make best use of the snow crust.  We hurried to Lake Marjorie by 9am but it then took another 5 hours of wallowing and a tremendous effort to make Pinchot pass by 2pm.  Having left the hat behind I make good use of my shirt  .  Once again, we were so tired that we made camp immediately below the pass on a rock outcropping.  We still had enough energy and sunlight to take a dip in the "refreshing" pools nearby .

Day Nine saw the same early roll out and we made it to a bare section of the John Muir Trail by 8am when the snow was beginning to soften.  This lower elevation segment involved five significant stream crossings starting with White Fork

and ending with South Fork near Arrowhead Lake .  Once again travel after 10am was extremely difficult and slow so we made camp near Arrowhead Lake.   The bear boxes at the lake still snowed under so we counterbalanced the food for the first time.

On Day 10 we headed for Dragon Peak and skirted it on the left for our fourth 12k'+ foot pass of the outing.  In the Roper guide the pass is listed as 2nd or 3rd class but because of our routefinding we ended up with a short rappel and some scrappy downclimbing.   Here is Karl rapping from an intermediate tower on our way to the pass proper .  A rotten descent followed by several miles of snow wallowing led to a few thousand feet of talus and scree descending and the van.  Here I show off secret behind my no-blister trip  - my first correctly sized boots! Karl demonstrates the value chapstick .

Day 11 saw us over Tioga Pass and on to Yosemite for some cragging and back to Fresno .

pictures ©  m. pratt

last modified by mrp on 030619