| 20061229 In Yo Northwest Face Trip Report |
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| 20061229 In Yo Northwest Face   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: California, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 32.84000°N / 113.91°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Dec 29, 2006 Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Mixed, Scrambling Season: Winter | Page By: TacoDelRio Created/Edited: Jan 9, 2007 / Dec 12, 2007 Object ID: 258550 Hits: 1776 Loading... Page Score: 86.74% - 16 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
"Hey, that looks different"I'm pretty bad with writing, creativity, and all that crap, so mind my brevity.
When I first saw Telegraph Peak a year and change ago, I saw it from Thunder mountain. Since I had no knowledge of the 3-T's trail, I assumed you simply went from Thunder, down the ridge connecting Thunder and Telegraph, and straight up the west ridge.
Upon reaching the saddle between Thunder and Telegraph, I noticed how cool the northwest face looked. I thought I'd give it a shot sometime later.
After 2005-2006's kinda lame winter as far as snowfall, I waited and waited for some adequete snowfall for the northwest face route to be climbable, or what have you. With the first snowfall of the 2006-2007 winter season on 20061210, I headed off to check out the route. Things were looking good, but I arrived at the summit of Thunder after sunset, so I had to head home.The day of the climbUnsure of what I wanted to do on the 29th of December 2006, I walked to the summit of Thunder once again. Telegraph looked OK, and I decided to give it a shot in case all the snow melted before I got another good full day at it.
While on Thunder Ridge, I decided to take the route from the saddle, instead of decending into Coldwater Canyon and climbing the entire face. If you plan on taking this route, and conditions are acceptable, I suggest going from Coldwater Canyon straight up the face. Unsure of how the day would progress, I decided to take the easier of the two methods.
Walking across the face, heading northeast, there was good traction despite all the scree. Once I reached one of the major bowling alleys, I headed up. My crampons gripped well into the hardened snow, which had a nice layer of ice atop it. I took this up, turning to the left at a fork. The ice and snow coverage turned crappy the further you get into the gulleys up top, so downclimbing unroped is a bit tricky, since the ground gives under you. I moved left, horizontal, through some rocky areas. The rock on this face is typical of the San Gabriels, basically just falling apart in your hands. I had to ballet dance my ass across, nearly falling a bunch of times.
I set my next goal as the "Telegraph Step", seen as the obvious rocky step on the left. Upon reaching the step, I expected the going to be a bit easier, with a lightly-used trail connecting Telegraph to high points along it's northern ridgeline. There was no such trail. Oops.
Telegraph Step |
Atop the step, I made a turn to the right/south, and headed up the loose northern ridgeline with strong winds buffeting me from both sides. If there was more snow/ice, this would be a piece of cake. Since there wasn't a helluva lot of good white stuff to grab onto, it was a dangerous scree-covered ridgeline with a real spiffy dropoff on either side. I thought that if I lost grip and fell and couldn't self-arrest (HAH), at least I wouldn't have to pay taxes for awhile.
Further up the ridge, I came across a really cool Limber pine, who's trunk seemed to be one long root (see picture). Where the root ended and the trunk began, and the tree grew vertical, I saw a large fungus-kinda thing about the size of a party platter. Very strange.
Bigass Limber Pine |
The rest of the way up the ridge seemed to take forever, with little grip, and lots of step-kicking into scree and powder that looked as if it had just been deposited. Once I reached the summit, I felt great, and over all else, I felt that I had actually EARNED this mountain, instead of just walking up it.
Looking down from the summit |
This image shows the route taken:
Route taken on 20061229 |
What I would change next timeIf you plan on taking this route, I suggest going when there's a much heavier coat of snow on Telegraph. The benefits of the route as far as snow is concerned is that winds flow through Coldwater Canyon, up to the summit of Telegraph, which seems to help a bit with ice-forming conditions, or hard snow or what have you. The hard snow and ice that I encountered really helped out, and I was motoring up the route at a good pace. Alot of the exposed rocks were covered in a thin layer of ice that looked like wet snot.
I suggest taking the route from the base of Telegraph, at the bottom of Coldwater Canyon. The majority of the route below the rocky areas is really pleasant, and under most conditions makes for a great local snow climb similar to Baldy Bowl, but in the shade, and with fewer people around.NotesThere are quite a few excellent shaded couliors along Telegraph's northern ridgeline. I'll do some more climbing and exploring there to put up information. This area is somewhat ignored, since people focus on nearby Mt Baldy and call it a day.
Having climbed one such coulior up Thunder Mountain, I can say that the conditions can be really nice for a good climb, so if you're looking for that kinda stuff, there's an entire area (Coldwater Canyon) that's largely left ignored, but has quite a bit to offer, I feel. Images
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San Gabriel Mountains > Telegraph Peak > 20061229 In Yo Northwest Face
