North Ridge (winter)

Approach

Follow the directions in the 'Getting There' section.

Route Description

From the parking area along Kyle Canyon Road, you can see the prominent and cliffy toe of the north ridge looming a thousand feet above the road to the south. From this vantage point, the summit is not visible.

Start heading cross country and up as the terrain steepens quickly and considerably. You are aiming straight for the cliffs (a sort of headwall) visible ahead of you on the north ridge. The route finding is simple as your first objective is hard to miss.

Once the base of the cliffs on the north ridge are reached, traverse easterly along the base until you reach a sort of notch. Assuming that you follow these directions and hug the cliff base, you cannot miss the "notch".

Once at the notch, cross over and continue traversing in a more southerly direction, still hugging the base of the cliffs as you follow the ridge itself as it heads south toward the summit. The summit itself should finally come into view in the distance. You should find that, once past the notch, staying a little below the base of the cliffs will give you easier, though still steep, ground on the traverse.

Continue traversing easterly, looking for terrain suitable for your skills and desires that will allow you to scramble up the rocky cliffs and to the ridge crest above you. The further you traverse along the base of the cliffs, the lower the cliffs get and the easier the scramble to the crest. A couple hundred yards or so after the notch, you will find that the cliffs have shrunken enough to make a class 3 scramble up to the crest a quick and painless venture.

Though still steep in places, once the ridge crest is reached, the remainder of the route is at a moderate angle and the remaining objective is clear: Follow the ridge, fighting the frequent brushy areas and attempting to stay near the crest, all the way to the summit.

To descend, retrace your steps. Unless your memory is good, you may want to mark the spot where you reached the crest from the traverse below. Remember that the further you traverse back down the ridge, the larger the cliffs and the steeper the climbing required to get back down to where you want to be.

Anyway, the roundtrip stats are around 5 miles with a little over 3000 feet of gain.

Essential Gear

Typical winter climbing gear. Ropes are necessary only for those particularly uncomfortable with a little mixed climbing (literally, only the part where you leave the traverse and head up to the ridge crest) and steep snowy traverses.