More fun than Clarence King! Date Climbed: Sep 24, 2009
Definitely more fun than Clarence King! Climbed in a day from camp as part of the Kings Spur traverse (CK, Cotter, Gardiner). Coming from Gardiner Lakes, I took the sweeping ridge that leads to the lower summit. It was fun class 2-3 scrambling the whole way, and the summit ridge was loooots of scrambling fun. Staying on the knife-edge the WHOLE time bumps up the difficulty to a short 5.5 move.
Ascent SE Ridge, Descent E Chute Date Climbed: Sep 26, 2008
Long day hike out from Onion Valley. Easy ascent/traverse leads to the South Peak where the fun begins! Descended East Chute and climbed Mt Cotter before the long exit via Rae, Glen, and Kearsarge Passes. Pictures and trip report
Dayhike from Cedar Grove Date Climbed: Jun 16, 2007
Ascended the south slopes, then descended the east chute to head over to Cotter. Looped back via Sixty Lakes Basin and the Woods Creek trail--a very long, rather tiring day. The bushwhacking past Charlotte Dome pretty much sapped any drive I had to go and climb that thing, at least until I forget how bad the brush was...
The knife edge is a fun scramble, with nice exposure and perfect holds right where you want them. Some of the easiest 4th class I've climbed in the Sierra.
Route Climbed: From Gardiner Basin Date Climbed: August 27, 1989
Camped in Gardiner Basin, climbed the peak, back to camp, packed up, crossed the same ridge via "Overlook Needle" - Peak 12,560', down to Charlotte Creek, over Kearsarge Pass and out to Onion Valley. One long day!
Route Climbed: South Slope (ascent), East Chute (descent) Date Climbed: July 14, 2000
mconnell and I were on a grand tour of the Gardiner Basin, climbing Mt. Gardiner on the second day. We carried all our crap up to nearly 13,000 ft at the south summit, traversed over to the north summit and back, then carried our gear down to Gardiner Lakes. I had a helluva headache at the high altitude, but the climbing on the knife edge was fantastic. And the climb from Charlotte Creek is an amazing slog. Worse than Mt. Clark's NW Arete approach! Trip report