2010 Sierra Challenge - Aug 6-15

[winemanvan]

Today's effort to Volcanic Knob turned out to be a bit tougher than expected. The easy routes come up from the south and the Minaret Lake Trail, the harder ones from the north and the Shadow Lake Trail - the one we used out of Agnew Meadows. We had more than 20 folks today, best ever showing for a Monday (or any mid-week day). The trail portion was fairly tame, but the cross-country was steep and relentless. Four of us (Darija, Adam, Vitaliy) made it to the summit via Cabin Lake in 3.5 hours. The views of the Minarets were spectacular, as expected:




And of course, Ritter and Banner as well:



The four of us decided to head southeast for a bonus peak called Red Top Mtn about 3mi distance. We spent 2.5hrs dropping down to Minaret Lake, following the trail down a short ways, then cross-country up to Red Top. An old register from 1981 had dubbed the peak BannRitt Peak, but the name never stuck. Another register under a different cairn was more recent, a classic MacLeod/Lilley variety:



As far as I know, everyone made it to the top of Volcanic Ridge that was heading that way. We had a few others doing Ritter/Banner, but didn't hear back from them yet.

Bob Sumner drove out from Hawthorne, NV to have dinner with us this evening in Mammoth, sharing stories and lies. It was good to meet him for the first time after many email exchanges.

Tomorrow we head to Convict Lake for a climb of White Fang and possibly the Baldwin->Morrison traverse. Should be great fun. The creek crossing where the bridge is out might be the crux.

Great Photos of the Minarets!!

[Bob Burd]

Day 7 - Mt. Spencer

We had more than 20 folks at the Lake Sabrina TH at 6am. A few more had left a bit earlier. It was a longer hike than we had expected - I had measured 17mi RT on TOPO, but someone with a GPS said it was closer to 22mi. Oops.

Despite the extra miles, 15 folks managed to get to the summit. Spencer lies on the west side of the Sierra Crest about a mile and a half with a 360 degree view of Evolution Basin. Great views, tons & tons of rock to cross to get there.

Brian French and Sean did the class 4 NW Ridge of Haeckel on their way back from Spencer (Ron Hudson did this same climb without visiting Spencer). I had planned to do likewise but was too knackered. Instead I wasted an hour trying to find a direct route down the drainage to Hungry Packer Lake. I didn't know there were big cliffs blocking the way, but found out. Stubbornly I found a way through the cliffs to the west end of the lake shore, only to find more problems in getting to the east end of the lake where the trail ends. Bottom line - stick with the ridgeline route between Hungry Packer and Midnight Lakes if heading to Haeckel Col.

After seven days we have an unprecedented number of participants to do all 7 of this year's peaks:
Bob Burd
Adam Jantz
Bob Jones
Laura Molnar
Vitaliy Musiyenko
I believe Laura is the first woman to do more than six Challenge peaks in the ten days.

In addition, both Jeff Moffat and Sean O'Rourke have seven Challenge peaks, though not all from this year's list.

The current leaders for the various jersies remain unchanged from yesterday.

Tomorrow we head to South Lake and a climb of Sky Haven. Should have a fine view of the Palisades from there.

[PellucidWombat]

After seven days we have an unprecedented number of participants to do all 7 of this year's peaks:
Bob Burd
Adam Jantz
Bob Jones
Laura Molnar
Vitaliy Musiyenko
I believe Laura is the first woman to do more than six Challenge peaks in the ten days.

go Vitaliy! You can do it!

[Scott M.]

Bob,
You might need to add and orange jersey for "top" woman. Humhhh, can't exactly remember why I may have suggested orange

[Bob Burd]

Bob,
You might need to add and orange jersey for "top" woman. Humhhh, can't exactly remember why I may have suggested orange

Yes, she has been suggesting the same thing.

[Daria]

Here are some pictures:

Although Feather Peak was great, one of the highlights of day 6 was Bear Spire and Claw peaks-seemingly miniscule and insignificant at first, but offered impressive summits. We had a fun time just playing around on the summit blocks. Vitaliy took it a step further:

On Spire Peak: This summit boulder was slanted outward, miraculously balanced with seemingly no support, and with tremendous exposure.


On Bear Claw:




Cool view of the lake from a hole in the summit boulders atop Spire Peak:



Newly Sierra Challenge placed summit register on the edge of Feather summit. This summit had a dramatic cliff drop off-2000 ft. exposure or so.



Unrelated, but along the way. A cool view of Peppermint Peak:



And finally! Me perched a top tiny summit ledges of Sky Haven:



and Cloudripper:



Great fun!

[graham]

This is a preemptive congrats to all the SC 2010 participants and special kudos to Bob for all the organization/effort over the last 10 years…well done Sir Sierra Challenge
I know there will be lots of great stories to be told/posted and I know there will be lots of other great challenges in the Sierra in the future, all great stuff!
Cheers,
RickG

[Bob Burd]

Thanks Rick!

I got behind in doing updates. We were having so much fun and got so worn out that sleep seemed better than diddling with a computer the last three days. I'll give a quick update and have more to say later when I get home.

Day 8 - Sky Haven

This is the highpoint of the long ridge north of Big Pine Creek. It overlooks the north faces of the Palisades and has some outstanding views. We approached from South Lake via the pipeline trail and then from the north. It was one of the easier days with a number of nearby bonus peaks including The Hunchback, Vagabond, and Cloudripper. Various groups approached from different directions, some coming from Vagabond down the connecting ridge, others traversing high around Thunder and Lightning Lake, still others dropping lower in the canyon before starting up. Everyone ended up traversing some distance east along the ridge with some class 3 that caught us by surprise.

The first five or six in the lead all headed to the highpoint along the ridge. The next group stopped at a lower summit to the west because their GPS's matched the location of where I had mistakenly dropped a red flag on the TOPO map. Some humorous controversy ensued, but in the end this second group all paid a visit to the highpoint so they could get proper credit for the peak.

The oddest combination was made by Sean who, after summiting Sky Haven, noted that he had climbed all the peaks in the region with the exception of Mt. Robinson. So down he went 2,000ft off the south side of Sky Haven, then up to Robinson via one of the class 3 routes. To get back to South Lake he then traversed the connecting ridge to Agassiz and climbed a class 5 route he'd picked out of Secor, up and over the summit to Bishop Pass and back to South Lake. All in less time than it took some to climb just Sky Haven.

Day 9 - Cedric Wright

This was the longest day of the Challenge with 8,700ft of gain to reach a peak west of the Sierra Crest via Armstrong Canyon. The upper part of Armstrong Canyon turned out to be an incredibly loose affair that wasn't very safe for the large party of 15 that we had trying to get up there to Colosseum Pass. It was virtually impossible not to knock rocks down, much to the dismay of those below and the frustration of all. We were fortunate to get everyone up and down the canyon wall without incident. The rest of the hike to Cedric Wright was quite pleasant, and the class 3 NE Ridge was quite enjoyable. The quickest climbers were able to get it done in just under 12hrs, the last came out more than hrs later.

Day 10 - Mt. Morgensen

Mt. Morgensen is the unofficially named summit west of Mt. Russell in the Whitney area. We were able to procure permits for 13 the day prior (thanks Phil D.) which almost covered our party of 16 that we had at the start. No rangers were encountered during the day anywhere in the North Fork drainage or anywhere else for that matter. Our route to Morgensen took us to Lower Boy Scout Lake and then up to Cleaver Col, around Tulainyo Lake (no naked swimmers this year) and the North Face of Russell to the NE Face of Morgensen. Four of us did the somewhat tricky traverse to Mt. Russell via class 3-4 ledges on the north side that were full of loose rock and sand. Others paid visits to some of the surrounding peaks, including Tunnabora, Cleaver, and Carillon.

I took the Yellow Jersey with a total time only about an hour faster than Bob Jones in second place.

Sean O'Rourke took the King of the Mountain Jersey with a total of 30 peaks, a new record.

Bob Jones won the Green Jersey (over 50yrs) with an impressive performance, climbing all ten Challenge peaks from this year. Jeff Moffat was second with ten Challenge peaks, not all from this year's list.

Adam Jantz just edged out Vitaliy Musiyenko for the White Jersey (under 25yrs) based on time. Both climbed all of this year's Challenge peaks.

Special mention to Laura Molnar for climbing all ten Challenge peaks and placing 4th for the Yellow Jersey, and to Darija Malinauskas for placing 3rd for the White and 4th for King of the Mountain with 6 Challenge peaks and 16 total peaks.

[rhyang]

Wow, I am in awe. Congrats to all of you

[kevin trieu]

Bob,

For 2011, you should do The Best of Sierra Challenge. Top 10 SC peaks.

Kevin

[Daria]

Day 9 - Cedric Wright

The rest of the hike to Cedric Wright was quite pleasant, and the class 3 NE Ridge was quite enjoyable. The quickest climbers were able to get it done in just under 12hrs, the last came out more than hrs later.

I'm still puzzled as to why we didn't see you guys on that day, and we didn't see your names in the summit register. Me, Vitaliy, and Adam made it up to the pass shortly afterward and you guys seemed to have completely vanished. Did you do any other peaks other than Cedric Wright that day?


Unfortunately, I had to miss 4 Challenge days-2 in the beginning due to schedule conflicts, and 2 later on because I got sick. So I could have accumulated a lot more peaks than the 16 I managed to get. Glad to have squeezed in Cedric Wright when I had a fever that day.

I think it would be cool to have another SC next summer-there is no way any one of us could have mustered up the courage or stamina to do long peak hikes day in and day out by ourselves-its a shared sense of community and shared passion (and some ego inflation) that does the motivation. Suffering isn't so bad when you get to share the experience with others. Glad to see some new and familiar faces, amazing work to the rest of the group!

[Diggler]

Four of us did the somewhat tricky traverse to Mt. Russell via class 3-4 ledges on the north side that were full of loose rock and sand.

Ha ha, classic Bob Burd. That "class 3-4" traverse took longer (& was more involved) than other "5th class" (defined by others- probably 4th in Bob's book )routes I've done without a rope. Definitely a classic mountaineering day. Good fun.

Anyhoo, thanks Bob, for putting together another of those crazy, awesome, & (as far as I know) completely unique events known as the Sierra Challenge- you've created something unique & special, & everyone who takes part knows it. Glad I was able to participate for part of it.

Pleased to meet a number of you for the first time, & congrats to all who participated, & esp. those who did the whole thing (props), & esp. esp. those who set new records (wow!).

[kevin trieu]

Hey Dirk, good running into you, Faith and Mark. Can't believe it has been four years since our cars got stuck at the Shepperd Pass TH.

Vitaly, thanks for letting me use your Jetboil. Did you ever end up giving SARS a heads up? My partner finally came out at 10pm, 17 hours later. We called the Sheriff to let them know that everything was ok and that an earlier alert from you should be negated but they said that they never receive any alert. Let me know when you got things figured out for Denali. I've got some Denali gear to unload. Congrats on 10/10.

[seano]

That "class 3-4" traverse took longer (& was more involved) than other "5th class" (defined by others- probably 4th in Bob's book )routes I've done without a rope. Definitely a classic mountaineering day. Good fun.

Indeed:

[Michael Graupe]

Big congrats to all participants. And an amazing performance by so many who completed all 10 days. I am bummed that I have not been able to take part this year.