Route Climbed: From the Ritter-Banner saddle Date Climbed: 25 September, 2004
Very worthy peak- one of the gems of the Sierra! After talking about this trip for the better part of a year, Lara & I finally got over here. Thousand Island Lake is probably one of the most beautiful campsites I've ever had.
After getting a late start, got to the Ritter-Banner saddle at 14.00. Going to the R of the standard (steep) talus slog, went up some enjoyable 4th class (somewhat slick, but nice & solid metamorphic rock- cool!) to end up R of the true summit. Traversed, summiting @ 16.07. Lara ended up a few minutes later.
Enjoyed spectacular views- great views of Mono Lake, Lyell-area peaks, northern Yosemite peaks, Mammoth-area peaks & beyond (& of course Ritter!). Ritter's N face still had unmelted 'powder' covering ledges from a recent storm, making for dicey-looking, exposed 3rd-class. Hung out for awhile, enjoying the great weather.
Left the summit at 16.55. Got back to camp late- very grateful for an almost-full moon (actually a beautiful night for a no-headlamp return). Hopefully Ritter's impressive-looking summit is in the future.
Route Climbed: SW Slope from Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: August 30, 2004
Much higher quality rock, and a much better experience than next-door Ritter, which we climbed earlier in the day. See the trip report for all of the sordid details.
September 19, 2007 Climbed the East Corner route, III 5.7, long day. Here's the trip report.
Route Climbed: SW Slope from Ritter-Banner saddle Date Climbed: August 30, 2004
After descending Ritter's N Face, Barry Beck & I took a quick trip up Banner. Easy climb, and very stable. A nice summit, with great views! Very low snow allowed us to traverse down some ledges to the glacier, missing the steep couloir in favor of wet class 3 rock in the center of the saddle. From the end of the glacier, the descent sucked until the use trail from Ediza was met. Tennis-type approach shoes don't do well on unfriendly talus! Round-trip from Agnew Meadow was something like sunrise to sunset....
Route Climbed: West slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: May 25th, 2004
Hiked in and camped above Lake Ediza the day before. I left camp at 4:10, took an easy pace and reached the saddle by 6am, and the summit shortly after 6:40. I couldn't find the summit register, nor could I easily tell what lump of rocks was the high point, so I traversed the summit ridge before descending to the saddle to continue on to Mt Ritter.
Route Climbed: Western Slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: 10/17/03
Did a solo ascent. Left Ediza lake around 7am and started the slow tedious ascent of the talus slopes. I didn't like the look of the runneled coulour so found a traverse on the south side of the "Glacier" that headed up the side of Ritter to the saddle. Traversed the saddle and headed up to reach the summit around noon. On the way down ran into "John from Lafayette" and "Frank from England" who just finished climbing the coulour.
A fun climb, but mostly consisted of non-stop talus slopes.
Route Climbed: Western Slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: October 11, 2003
After summiting Ritter at 2:33pm, I descended Ritter's North Face via the Classic Chute. Rested a few minutes at the saddle and started up the western slope at 3:23pm. I reached the summit of Banner at 4:00pm. Remained there 'til 4:15pm. Put crampons back on at the saddle and headed down the runnelled, icy chute by 5:00pm. I pulled into camp (Ediza Lake) at 6:20pm. Broke camp and hiked out. Back at the Agnew Meadows trailhead at 9:40pm.
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Sept. 10th, 2003
First time in the area, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but didn't have much fun going up the two talus fields. The short couloir, leading to the saddle, was quite enjoyable. I would suggeust this route in the late spring or early summer for the most favorable conditions.
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2003; June 19, 2004
My first day on the Sierra Challenge, and my first time up this peak--the climb to the saddle (and subsequent descent) was a bit imposing for my first 'real' use of crampons. I never found the register, although I wasn't really in the mood to search too much for it either--I ended up climbing four distinct high points up there to make sure I at least tagged the real summit. It's kind of a slog from the saddle.
I'd hoped to climb Ritter afterwards, but I was feeling dizzy and light-headed from not much sleep the night before. Ritter would have to wait for another day.
Came back in June 2004, intending to do a Clyde Minaret-Banner-Ritter dayhike out of Agnew Meadows. Unfortunately, once I made it to Cecile Lake I could see there was still too much snow on Clyde Minaret to safely solo the Rock Route. So I headed off to Banner (snow conditions made this much easier than last August), but lightning kept me from Ritter for a second time. Drats. Next time I'll just head up Ritter's SE Slopes!
Route Climbed: From R/B saddle Date Climbed: July 13, 2003
Banner was a bit of a slog after the fun scrambling on Ritter. We got to the summit of Banner just under 2 hours from when we left the summit of Ritter. It wasn't so stressful, and the talus slog wasn't as awful as we thought it would be. In some ways the view was better from Ritter, with the lakes and Owens valley in view. To climb Ritter and not go bag Banner as well would be a real shame.
Route Climbed: From Ediza up the ice chute to Banner-Ritter saddle Date Climbed: July 19th 2003
There were 5 of us that started out at 9:41am on a sunny day. Got to snow field before the saddle and trucked up. We used ice axes and dug steps to get up the chute that is right below the saddle.( about a 70-80 degree angle) When we were in the saddle clouds started to roll over and rain soon followed. Clouds were preventing a view of the top of Ritter, which was included in our original destination. We were forced to take shelter under a rock overhang for 30 min. before the storm blew over. We then boulder hopped up the side of Banner and enjoyed our 360 view of the truely beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness and beyond. ( Even the clouds couldn't ruin this view) We summited around 1pm. - email me if you are interested in the rest of our trek after the summit.
Route Climbed: West side from Lake Catherine Date Climbed: July 19, 2003
On a rest day at Thousand Island Lake on a boy scout 50 miler we hiked over North Glacier Pass to Lake Catherine hoping to ascend the glacier to the saddle. When we saw the icy glacier starting at the waters of the lake we knew we would need crampons which we didn't have. We went up the rock to the left of the glacier and found a difficult class 2/easy class 3 route. It dropped us near the saddle where we kicked steps up the glacier and climbed the rocks to the saddle. When we looked over the other side we saw thick dark clouds with rain pouring down. We didn't wait long to abort the summit attempt and started racing back down as the rain started and clouds poured over the saddle. We just escaped the clouds and distant lightning and made it back down. My scariest mountaineering experience so far. Trip Report
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle from the East (Ediza Lake) Date Climbed: July 12, 2003
What a terrific mountain! It will probably be on my top 3 list for a while. Had a great pleasure to climb this beautiful peak with another SP-er davidkiene, Sam and my girlfriend Etsuko. We hit the snow pretty early, aced the saddle chute and scrambled Class 3 rocks (on the right side of the usual Class 2 route) to the summit. It was interesting to descend 45 degree snow chute on the way back when snow got mushy and wet. Weather and views were PERFECT!
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle from the east Date Climbed: July 12, 2003
I climbed this with my friends Sam, Misha and Etsuko. There was snow cover for nearly the entire route. The weather, company, views and of course, the mountain, made this a great climb!
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Sept 22nd 2002
Nice challenging day hike. As 'snwburd' said, the snow was not the best (slush and ice). Kinda sketchy downclimbing 40 degree incline on an instep. As for the guys from Bridgeport that signed the register in August 2000....you guys are turds!! Airwing Marines Rule!!
Route Climbed: Banner-Ritter Saddle Date Climbed: Sep 22, 2002
Dayhiked from Agnews Meadow with Dave Daly. The snow up to the saddle was heavily runnelled and moderately steep - not in very good condition at all. Between us we had a pair of 10-pointers and a pair of instep crampons. Splitting them up gave us each one solid foot and one weak one - made for the highlight of the climb. 13hr30m CTC - Trip Report
Diggler - Sep 28, 2004 1:26 am
Route Climbed: From the Ritter-Banner saddle Date Climbed: 25 September, 2004Very worthy peak- one of the gems of the Sierra! After talking about this trip for the better part of a year, Lara & I finally got over here. Thousand Island Lake is probably one of the most beautiful campsites I've ever had.
After getting a late start, got to the Ritter-Banner saddle at 14.00. Going to the R of the standard (steep) talus slog, went up some enjoyable 4th class (somewhat slick, but nice & solid metamorphic rock- cool!) to end up R of the true summit. Traversed, summiting @ 16.07. Lara ended up a few minutes later.
Enjoyed spectacular views- great views of Mono Lake, Lyell-area peaks, northern Yosemite peaks, Mammoth-area peaks & beyond (& of course Ritter!). Ritter's N face still had unmelted 'powder' covering ledges from a recent storm, making for dicey-looking, exposed 3rd-class. Hung out for awhile, enjoying the great weather.
Left the summit at 16.55. Got back to camp late- very grateful for an almost-full moon (actually a beautiful night for a no-headlamp return). Hopefully Ritter's impressive-looking summit is in the future.
bearbnz - Sep 2, 2004 10:47 am
Route Climbed: SW Slope from Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: August 30, 2004Much higher quality rock, and a much better experience than next-door Ritter, which we climbed earlier in the day. See the trip report for all of the sordid details.
September 19, 2007 Climbed the East Corner route, III 5.7, long day. Here's the trip report.
ScottyS - Sep 1, 2004 4:26 pm
Route Climbed: SW Slope from Ritter-Banner saddle Date Climbed: August 30, 2004After descending Ritter's N Face, Barry Beck & I took a quick trip up Banner. Easy climb, and very stable. A nice summit, with great views! Very low snow allowed us to traverse down some ledges to the glacier, missing the steep couloir in favor of wet class 3 rock in the center of the saddle. From the end of the glacier, the descent sucked until the use trail from Ediza was met. Tennis-type approach shoes don't do well on unfriendly talus! Round-trip from Agnew Meadow was something like sunrise to sunset....
PellucidWombat - May 27, 2004 9:33 pm
Route Climbed: West slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: May 25th, 2004Hiked in and camped above Lake Ediza the day before. I left camp at 4:10, took an easy pace and reached the saddle by 6am, and the summit shortly after 6:40. I couldn't find the summit register, nor could I easily tell what lump of rocks was the high point, so I traversed the summit ridge before descending to the saddle to continue on to Mt Ritter.
mtnfoto - Jan 20, 2004 5:47 pm
Route Climbed: From R-B Saddle Date Climbed: August 1976Day hiked from Agnew Meadow. Climbed to Ritter-Banner Saddle, did Banner first then Ritter. Descended south east slopes of Ritter.
Johnhl94563 - Oct 18, 2003 9:58 pm
Route Climbed: Western Slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: 10/17/03Did a solo ascent. Left Ediza lake around 7am and started the slow tedious ascent of the talus slopes. I didn't like the look of the runneled coulour so found a traverse on the south side of the "Glacier" that headed up the side of Ritter to the saddle. Traversed the saddle and headed up to reach the summit around noon. On the way down ran into "John from Lafayette" and "Frank from England" who just finished climbing the coulour.
A fun climb, but mostly consisted of non-stop talus slopes.
forjan - Oct 13, 2003 11:57 pm
Route Climbed: Western Slope from R/B Saddle Date Climbed: October 11, 2003After summiting Ritter at 2:33pm, I descended Ritter's North Face via the Classic Chute. Rested a few minutes at the saddle and started up the western slope at 3:23pm. I reached the summit of Banner at 4:00pm. Remained there 'til 4:15pm. Put crampons back on at the saddle and headed down the runnelled, icy chute by 5:00pm. I pulled into camp (Ediza Lake) at 6:20pm. Broke camp and hiked out. Back at the Agnew Meadows trailhead at 9:40pm.
Wallylongridge - Sep 16, 2003 10:37 am
Route Climbed: Banner-Ritter saddle Date Climbed: Oct 1991Hangdog Ted, Summit Block and I did this fun route in the fall just to get out and bag some peaks
Elwood - Sep 16, 2003 12:46 am
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Sept. 10th, 2003First time in the area, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but didn't have much fun going up the two talus fields. The short couloir, leading to the saddle, was quite enjoyable. I would suggeust this route in the late spring or early summer for the most favorable conditions.
Matthew Holliman - Aug 19, 2003 6:08 pm
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2003; June 19, 2004My first day on the Sierra Challenge, and my first time up this peak--the climb to the saddle (and subsequent descent) was a bit imposing for my first 'real' use of crampons. I never found the register, although I wasn't really in the mood to search too much for it either--I ended up climbing four distinct high points up there to make sure I at least tagged the real summit. It's kind of a slog from the saddle.
I'd hoped to climb Ritter afterwards, but I was feeling dizzy and light-headed from not much sleep the night before. Ritter would have to wait for another day.
Came back in June 2004, intending to do a Clyde Minaret-Banner-Ritter dayhike out of Agnew Meadows. Unfortunately, once I made it to Cecile Lake I could see there was still too much snow on Clyde Minaret to safely solo the Rock Route. So I headed off to Banner (snow conditions made this much easier than last August), but lightning kept me from Ritter for a second time. Drats. Next time I'll just head up Ritter's SE Slopes!
Bob Burd - Aug 10, 2003 10:42 pm
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2003Day 2 of the 2003 Sierra Challenge. 5.5hr from Agnew Meadows, then on to climb Mt. Ritter next door. Trip Report
darinchadwick - Aug 3, 2003 9:31 pm
Route Climbed: From R/B saddle Date Climbed: July 13, 2003Banner was a bit of a slog after the fun scrambling on Ritter. We got to the summit of Banner just under 2 hours from when we left the summit of Ritter. It wasn't so stressful, and the talus slog wasn't as awful as we thought it would be. In some ways the view was better from Ritter, with the lakes and Owens valley in view. To climb Ritter and not go bag Banner as well would be a real shame.
climbintime - Jul 22, 2003 1:44 am
Route Climbed: From Ediza up the ice chute to Banner-Ritter saddle Date Climbed: July 19th 2003There were 5 of us that started out at 9:41am on a sunny day. Got to snow field before the saddle and trucked up. We used ice axes and dug steps to get up the chute that is right below the saddle.( about a 70-80 degree angle) When we were in the saddle clouds started to roll over and rain soon followed. Clouds were preventing a view of the top of Ritter, which was included in our original destination. We were forced to take shelter under a rock overhang for 30 min. before the storm blew over. We then boulder hopped up the side of Banner and enjoyed our 360 view of the truely beautiful Ansel Adams Wilderness and beyond. ( Even the clouds couldn't ruin this view) We summited around 1pm. - email me if you are interested in the rest of our trek after the summit.
Brett A - Jul 21, 2003 1:13 pm
Route Climbed: West side from Lake Catherine Date Climbed: July 19, 2003On a rest day at Thousand Island Lake on a boy scout 50 miler we hiked over North Glacier Pass to Lake Catherine hoping to ascend the glacier to the saddle. When we saw the icy glacier starting at the waters of the lake we knew we would need crampons which we didn't have. We went up the rock to the left of the glacier and found a difficult class 2/easy class 3 route. It dropped us near the saddle where we kicked steps up the glacier and climbed the rocks to the saddle. When we looked over the other side we saw thick dark clouds with rain pouring down. We didn't wait long to abort the summit attempt and started racing back down as the rain started and clouds poured over the saddle. We just escaped the clouds and distant lightning and made it back down. My scariest mountaineering experience so far. Trip Report
Misha - Jul 14, 2003 12:42 am
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle from the East (Ediza Lake) Date Climbed: July 12, 2003What a terrific mountain! It will probably be on my top 3 list for a while. Had a great pleasure to climb this beautiful peak with another SP-er davidkiene, Sam and my girlfriend Etsuko. We hit the snow pretty early, aced the saddle chute and scrambled Class 3 rocks (on the right side of the usual Class 2 route) to the summit. It was interesting to descend 45 degree snow chute on the way back when snow got mushy and wet. Weather and views were PERFECT!
Dave K - Jul 13, 2003 10:08 pm
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle from the east Date Climbed: July 12, 2003I climbed this with my friends Sam, Misha and Etsuko. There was snow cover for nearly the entire route. The weather, company, views and of course, the mountain, made this a great climb!
KWANZOR - Oct 15, 2002 6:13 pm
Route Climbed: SE Face from L. Catherine via glacier Date Climbed: July 8 1999A fun side trip along the Muir trail.
Dave Daly - Sep 24, 2002 5:15 pm
Route Climbed: Ritter-Banner Saddle Date Climbed: Sept 22nd 2002Nice challenging day hike. As 'snwburd' said, the snow was not the best (slush and ice). Kinda sketchy downclimbing 40 degree incline on an instep. As for the guys from Bridgeport that signed the register in August 2000....you guys are turds!! Airwing Marines Rule!!
Bob Burd - Sep 23, 2002 11:26 am
Route Climbed: Banner-Ritter Saddle Date Climbed: Sep 22, 2002Dayhiked from Agnews Meadow with Dave Daly. The snow up to the saddle was heavily runnelled and moderately steep - not in very good condition at all. Between us we had a pair of 10-pointers and a pair of instep crampons. Splitting them up gave us each one solid foot and one weak one - made for the highlight of the climb. 13hr30m CTC - Trip Report
ocelot - Jul 11, 2002 10:00 am
Route Climbed: Southwest Face, Ritter/Banner Saddle Date Climbed: July, 2001A very enjoyable climb with magnificant views!