Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP > Mount Darwin > Climber's LogMount Darwin Climber's Log
|
|
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|
| Michael Graupe | West Ridge  Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2007 | |
| Day 4, 2007 Sierra Challenge. Decided not to go to the Hermit but climbed the W-Ridge with Ryan S. The summit pinnacle is fun. | |
| Posted Aug 16, 2007 12:08 pm | ||
| bechtt | West Slope Date Climbed: Jul 21, 2007 | |
| Other than Secor forgetting to mention an additional branching of chutes, this turned out to be a great climb. The summit block turned out to be highly overrated as I found myself standing on it after a quick 5 minutes from the plateau. Well worth it. Peak #5 on JMT adventure. | |
| Posted Aug 1, 2007 5:20 pm | ||
| Deb | North Face Couloir Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007 | |
| Loved this climb! I stayed as much as on ice possible and pulled a little mixed climbing in on the far right side. Summit block was easier to obtain than originally thought and views were stupendous even with impending rain clouds...that came later. Exited via West Ridge. | |
| Posted Jul 16, 2007 3:01 pm | ||
| Dave Daly | Kick N' Axe! Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007 | |
| Had a great time with Debbi and Rick Kent making our way up to the summit of Dawin via the North Face Couloir!! The upper half of the route was turning out to be a fine alpine ice climb (50 degrees in some places....mainly on the right side as the route splits right). Debbi did a fine job making that section of the climb look easy, while Rick and I pleaded with the "Ice God's" to allow our crampons and axes to bite into the ice :P (should have filed those tools before heading out!). What a great finish too.....we exited the right fork and straight up to exposed rock (4th class and probably would have been covered with snow had it not been a dry winter in 2006/2007) and eventually headed to the summit block to top out. I highly recommend this climb! Classic! | |
| Posted Jul 16, 2007 10:23 am | ||
| snowhiker | Kick ass time | |
| I had a killer time on this Mountain with Rob we did the northeast ridge to the traverse then we went up the east face. Thanks Rob | |
| Posted Jul 15, 2007 7:05 pm | ||
| Pantilat | North Face Date Climbed: Jul 7, 2007 | |
| Perfect neve on the face with some alpine ice in the narrow couloir just below the summit plateau. We descended the Northwest Ridge route and then I climbed Mendel via the East Face. 12.5 hour roundtrip from the North Lake parking area. What a sweet route on a sweet mountain! | |
| Posted Jul 9, 2007 1:07 pm | ||
| asmrz | North Face Date Climbed: Oct 26, 1980 | |
| Miguel Carmona and I climbed the North side glacier in October of 1980 while climbing other peaks in and around Darwin/Mendel area. 35-40 degree ice on the face made for a great day of scrambling around with a great partner. | |
| Posted Jan 27, 2007 7:26 pm | ||
| dervin | North Face Epic Date Climbed: Nov 23, 2006 | |
| Turkey is for the weak. There is nothing like cold feet, and desolate mountains to make you give thanks. | |
| Posted Jan 27, 2007 5:07 pm | ||
| yaknjorgl | west ridge Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2006 | |
| its great climbing a big mountain you can see from town. went up in june looking for ideal north face conditions, but moved too slow and conditions weren't right. My buddy jeff thought he'd just solo up the north face, fortunately i talked him out of it then we watched the point avalanches hammer the north face through the thunder storm on the way out and over lamark col. went back again with jeff and steve, it took along time to get from lamark col to darwin bench and camp. the glacier was icy and blue the next morning, jeffs crampon kept coming off. One of teh best climbs ever. beautiful position on the west ridge, ez moves, fantastic views. we thought the summit block would be tougher than it was. 36 hours car to car. a dream come true. | |
| Posted Jan 2, 2007 6:57 am | ||
| Matthew Holliman | North Face (ascent) / West Ridge (descent) Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2006 | |
| Dayhiked this with Rob (below). We weren't sure whether we'd find ice on the North Face, so we hauled along harnesses, short rope, ice screws, etc... this was all just useless training weight. I brought an axe and one tool, but used only the axe in the end. Snow was in perfect condition for climbing, and no more than 45 degrees (maybe a couple of very short bulges that approach 50 degrees) at the steepest parts. The summit block was fun (much easier than it looks at first--we went around to the left), as was the West Ridge descent. Encountered a tricky class 4 move (and some rap slings) before reaching the final class 2 ledges down to the glacier, so we were probably off route on the West Ridge. (Maybe the class 3 route lies further west when starting up from the glacier). In my opinion, at least when it's a snow climb, the North Face is undoubtedly the easiest and quickest route up the peak. Some clouds in the sky, but they never developed into anything more threatening than some light hail on the way back over Lamarck Col. This was a grudge peak for me--I bailed on it when climbing Mendel last year because of threatening weather, and gave up on it in July when I attempted it immediately after flying back from China (major jet lag, and I got off route onto difficult 4th class while trying to gain the West Ridge). Glad to knock this one off. I'd like to go back for the NE Ridge or East Face sometime. | |
| Posted Dec 1, 2006 4:34 am | ||
| forjan | North Face/Glacier Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2006 | |
| Climbed with MichaelJ. Started hiking at 4:47am from our camp (elev ~ 11,800') near the eastern-most lake of Darwin Canyon. We simul-soloed from the base of the glacier to the top in 45 minutes as it was all neve. Reached the summit just before 8:00am. Descended via the west ridge. Back in camp at 10:43am (6 hrs camp-to-camp). | |
| Posted Sep 6, 2006 12:44 am | ||
| rhyang | North Face Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2006 | |
| Climbed with Matthew in a day. Started from North Lake trailhead at 4am, started climbing North Face around 10:30. No ice, just fairly soft snow, to about 40-45 degrees. Simul-soloed the route from the glacier up to the summit plateau by about noon. Scrambled up the class 3 route on the summit block, and then downclimbed - lots of fun. Traversed the West Ridge to a notch (class 3), then downclimbed it to the glacier (about class 3-4, saw several rap slings). Back to parking lot by 9pm (I was dragging - Matthew would probably have been back a lot sooner - Lamarck Col is heinous !) We brought harnesses, several ice screws, short rope for rappelling, etc, but never used any of it - we got it early enough in the season that it was all still snow. We could see some clouds coming in, but they didn't do anything until around 4-ish (intermittent drizzle and small hail), and by then we were well off the peak and on our way back to Lamarck Col. The Mendel couloirs looked impressive. | |
| Posted Jul 31, 2006 12:12 pm | ||
| tiogap | North Couloir Date Climbed: Jun 13, 1979 | |
| my first roped climb in the Sierra. we climbed one of the chutes on the north side. then climbed the ridge from Mendel to the summit block. I felt pretty exposed. | |
| Posted Jul 30, 2006 12:29 am | ||
| Robt | Route Climbed: normal Date Climbed: Aug. 2005 | |
| With Will Hurst. Rating could be downgraded to cl. 3. | |
| Posted Dec 13, 2005 1:36 pm | ||
| Desert Solitaire | Route Climbed: East Face Date Climbed: September 9, 2005 | |
| Dayhike from Lk Sabrina. The 4th class chimney pitch on the NE ridge was a bit easier than I expected, but I was definitely glad I didn't attempt to downclimb it. It looked way tough to head down, so I dragged a rope and rapped off it as I became engulfed in a blinding snowstorm. Very surreal - it appeared and disappeared very quickly and as I packed up the rope at the bottom, it completely disappeared. Great climb! RT time: 12 hrs, 30 min. | |
| Posted Sep 13, 2005 8:52 pm | ||
| Steve Larson | Route Climbed: North Buttress Date Climbed: July 4, 1978 | |
| This was my first "real" alpine climb. We made good time up the 4th-class N buttress, and then slowed down near the top. Crossing the snow gully was interesting. It was basically ice, and it bent the pick on my new MSR super light aluminum ice axe. Piece 'o crap. That was the last time I bought climbing gear from MSR. Their stoves are alright, though. After tunneling through the summit overhangs, admiring the fossils on the summit plateau, and doing the summit pinnacle, we headed down. My partners wussed out on rapping the standard descent to the Darwin Glacier because there was some ice in the gully. So they insisted we walk down into Evolution Basin and then back up Darwin Canyon. Needless to say, we weren't back in camp that night. Froze my butt of. But oh, well. Live and learn. It was a great adventure nonetheless! | |
| Posted Nov 5, 2004 11:11 pm | ||
| Samantha | Route Climbed: West Face Date Climbed: 8/11/04 | |
| This route reminds me why I love climbing mountains. Clean rock, fun route finding and great views!!! Thanks for a great trip Dave K! | |
| Posted Aug 16, 2004 4:09 pm | ||
| Dave K | Route Climbed: West Face Date Climbed: August 11, 2004 | |
| This was a very enjoyable climb. There is some fine class 3-4 scrambling, especially in the lower section and along the arete below the top (although like most Sierra chutes, the gullies had some loose rocks). The weather was absolutely perfect. Kudos to my climbing partner Samantha for her safe climbing, great companionship, and perfect route finding. | |
| Posted Aug 13, 2004 9:51 am | ||
| bc44caesar | Route Climbed: West Face Date Climbed: 18 Jul 2004 | |
| Hiked to Evolution Basin from McClure Meadows in Evolution Valley and started up the West Face. Ended up picking the wrong gullies and ended up part way between Darwin and Mendel. After a long traverse over ribs and gullies finally made it to the summit plateau and did a few easy bouldering moves to reach the pinnacle! Weather was fantastic after getting blown off the Hermit two days earlier and weathering a storm to reach Muriel Peak the day before. | |
| Posted Jul 24, 2004 5:23 pm | ||
| tiogap | Route Climbed: North Face Date Climbed: June, 1979 | |
| First time I roped up on a Sierra peak | |
| Posted Jun 5, 2004 9:17 pm | ||
|