Ansel Adams Wilderness > Banner Peak > Climber's LogBanner Peak Climber's Log
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[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
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| Sknyskiman | From 1000 Islands Lake over North Glacier Pass  Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2007 | |
| Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a true "climber". I just have good physical stamina and not a lot of climbing finesse. After cresting North Glacier Pass, I got lost and climbed about 500 ft too high above the "bench" before hitting the glacier. Met two guys, Chris and Bill from the South Bay Area, before the glacier. Getting up the glacier to the R/B saddle was a good workout on my quads without poles. Chris wanted to do the north face of Ritter, so I started to do it with him, but wimped out after trying to get up the steep snow to the right chute (no poles, crampons, and nerves). Crossed the saddle and proceeded to do Banner thinking I had a better possibility of getting back in one piece and/or alive. It was a mind-awaking rock scramble for me until near the top. Then things turned a bit confusing, because the top seemed a bit craggy and couldn't see the actual summit. After fumbling amongst the rocks and talus for several minutes, I finally figured out the route to the summit. Someone urinated on the summit register box, so I passed on signing it after getting sticky stuff all over my hand (the joke was on me!!!). I ended up working part of the climb with the other guy, Bill. His buddy, Chris, made it up Ritter and back to the saddle faster than we summitted Banner. That guy was a real mountain goat! I was really thankfull to have run into those guys for a better climbing comfort level. Exceptional air quality and magnificent views from atop Banner!!! With a little more experience, I must try to do Ritter next time. | ||
| Posted Aug 15, 2007 4:23 pm | ||
| bechtt | From the saddle Date Climbed: Jul 16, 2007 | |
| Ho hum talus climb from the saddle after the exciting ascent of the couloir. But the views were phenomenal. Peak #3 on JMT adventure. | |
| Posted Aug 1, 2007 5:12 pm | ||
| Steve Larson | From Catherine Lake Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2007 | |
| Getting from Glacier pass onto the glacier was harder than I expected, though maybe we went the wrong way. | |
| Posted Jul 30, 2007 11:43 pm | ||
| 96avs01 | Must Return For Ritter Again Date Climbed: Jul 7, 2007 | |
| Topped out on Banner from the saddle, views are phenomenal. Had planned to follow with the north face of Ritter and descend the SE glacier. My GF was more than a little intimidated by the NF of Ritter so we chose to descend from the saddle, where my usual climbing partner 'tweaked' a healing ankle, thus a following day ascent of Ritter had to be aborted. Thus, I must return again (had to descend last summer due to partner's AMS) to top out on Ritter. Quite surprised at the near absence of snow and at the smoke filling the Owens Valley from the fires. | |
| Posted Jul 8, 2007 10:25 pm | ||
| Pantilat | Nice summit view Date Climbed: Jun 23, 2007 | |
| Climbed after doing the North Face of Ritter. | |
| Posted Jun 25, 2007 9:45 pm | ||
| metasyn11 | R-B saddle from Catherine Lake Date Climbed: Jun 23, 2007 | |
| From our campsite at Thousand Island Lake, we ascended to the Ritter-Banner saddle via North Glacier Pass. From here its an easy talus scramble to the top, with fantastic views in every direction and a dizzying drop to the lakes on the east. Later we bagged Ritter, amounting to a fine day all around. | |
| Posted Jun 24, 2007 11:16 pm | ||
| bennovak | Banner-Ritter Saddle from the East Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2006 | |
| With only 1 ice axe and no crampons between G Paul and myself, we decided to abandon the snow filled shoot and climb straight up the rock to the saddle. Only major obstacle was crossing the moat (~2ft wide and straight onto 3rd class rock) and navigating the crap snow on the way down. Have an ice axe at a minimum and crampons would be a big help. Ran out of time and will have to come back for Ritter. | |
| Posted Sep 10, 2006 8:27 am | ||
| derbilly | Ritter Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Jul 7, 2006 | |
| Nice climb up the glacier from Lake Catherine. A bit of a slog from there until you get to the summit. Awesome views from the summit from this impressive-looking peak. | |
| Posted Aug 17, 2006 4:58 pm | ||
| thebeave7 | Ritter/Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2006 | |
| A long but very successful dayhike on Day 2 of the Sierra Challenge. A bit of a slog, but nice views. | |
| Posted Aug 14, 2006 4:36 am | ||
| eggheadsherpa | Route Climbed: From R-B Saddle Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2006 | |
| Day-tripped as part of an alternate group for the 2006 Sierra Challenge. Combined this with Ritter in one day...beautiful weather and incredible views from the summit. | |
| Posted Aug 7, 2006 3:50 am | ||
| Zzyzx | Ritter / Banner saddle Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2006 | |
| I wanted to day-hike both Ritter and Banner from Agnew Meadows. From the saddle it took me about 40 min to get to the summit. Finding the summit was a little confusing and required a short traverse along the ridge. It took me also about 40 min to descend to the saddle. I hate scree slopes... From there I went up the North Face of Ritter to the summit, down the SE glacier and back to the car - 13.5 hrs total. | ||
| Posted Jul 7, 2006 7:31 am | ||
| Completebum | Isolation Date Climbed: May 28, 2006 | |
| It seemed like our group of 3 had the entire Ansel Adams Wilderness to ourselves. We had to start at the resort and hiked most of the way on snow. After setting up camp above Shadow lake we watched the storm break up over Ritter/Banner, then summited Banner the following morning. The exposure down the North Face was impressive. | |
| Posted May 30, 2006 4:49 pm | ||
| lakenyon | Ritter/Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Jun 18, 2005 | |
| Unseasonably cold, with new snow the previous night, but a great peak. | |
| Posted May 14, 2006 10:41 pm | ||
| dshoshone | Route Climbed: from catherine lake Date Climbed: 6/15/2004 | |
| Long day hike. Went in the high trail to 1000 island and met a friend a catherine lake. Then up the glacier to the summit | |
| Posted Nov 8, 2005 6:49 pm | ||
| tdoughty | Route Climbed: Saddle 2nd class | |
| nice view | |
| Posted Oct 16, 2005 12:08 pm | ||
| jenarrow | Route Climbed: Catherine Lake to Ritter Banner Saddle Date Climbed: August 9, 1998 | |
| This was my first true peak bagging adventure. It is the perfect introductory Class 2-3 excursion. After a heavy winter, the trip to the summit was straightforward. We did it without crampons, but I would recommend them for the afternoon climb down. I did manage to slide down the main glacier twice but the suncups slowed me down just enough to brake before what could have been a swift trip right into Lake Catherine. There were about 4 parties who summitted the same day. Each took a different route to the top and back down. On the way up we went over the North Glacier Pass and down to Lake Catherine, then straight up the glacier to the saddle. It was a heavy enough winter that we stayed on snow the entire time until veering left at the saddle to make the final ascent. The final push to the summit from the saddle was very slow going on account of tedious rock scrambling. To cut some time off of the return, we jumped off of the glacier halfway down and found a challenging Class 3 rock route with a few Class 4 legs to add a little excitement. This route took us to the North side of the peak. This required a little route searching and backtracking to avoid any technical climbing, but still saved us time. Summitting Banner from Thousand Island Lake and the Lake Catherine Route can easily be done in two days, although three makes for a less rushed and more enjoyable experience. | |
| Posted Sep 6, 2005 6:23 pm | ||
| Desert Solitaire | Route Climbed: Ritter/Banner Saddle Date Climbed: August 26, 2005 | |
| Long, boring climb, especially if combined after ritter. Some interesting cl 3 moves near the summit, but still a slog. Enroute down the chute below the saddle posed some problems for me and I took a hard fall, thankfully arresting. It seemed to take quite a toll on my performance and composure back to camp. All's well that ends well - a fun and humbling experience. | |
| Posted Sep 5, 2005 5:08 pm | ||
| uwjennie | Route Climbed: Western slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: 8/26/05 | |
| Climbed along with Ritter from the cars on Friday. Then, back to camp Friday night. Hiked out Saturday. | |
| Posted Aug 29, 2005 1:56 am | ||
| 249Eagles | Route Climbed: Thousand Island Lake-Lake Catherine Glacier Date Climbed: 8/11/2005 | |
| Incredible ascent with bouldering and a cramponless ascent up the Glacier. We were able to step onto the glacier by using treking poles and a retrieval rope so that each of the Venturers could ascend. Weather was perfect and the views tremendous. We believe we saw Mt. Diablo at 283° but will have to verify. Summiters included: Quin S, Ross O, Drew L, Scott P, Emerson P, Andy S and Jeff L | ||
| Posted Aug 15, 2005 1:50 pm | ||
| mpyle | Route Climbed: From Catherine Lake (near maximal glacier!) Date Climbed: 22 July 2005 | |
| Starting from the 1000 Island Lake area, we were on snow most of the way to North Glacier Pass. Contoured around toward the glacier, crossing a few steep snow slopes (one of which had some icy stretches and proved to be the most treacherous part of the entire climb). We were using ice axes, but never broke out the crampons. The glacier was a cruise with soft, steppable snow. Got up to the saddle, and slogged up the final stretch. Summit was a bit obscured by clouds, making route finding slightly more difficult. Just kept going up until couldn't go up any more. After visiting several of the high points and giving up on finding the register, I found it. Route from 1000 Island Lake was fairly long, but technically easy and very pretty. | |
| Posted Jul 31, 2005 11:46 am | ||
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