mountaingazelle - Oct 2, 2005 12:17 am - Voted 10/10
Rating?Do you know what the difficulty rating is for the ridge connecting Cobb and Old Hyndman? I guess it would be the southwest ridge on the map. I accidently came up this route, by mistake, when I tried to climb Old Hyndman. It was fun, a lot of scrambling along a narrow ridgeline. I made it to within 200 feet of the top but a lightning storm made me turn around. Next time I will climb the normal route up the East Ridge.
IdahoKid - Oct 2, 2005 11:06 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Rating?That is quite impressive you made that traverse MG. I'd say the traverse is probably 4-5th class but the last two hundred feet are a cinch. Am I wrong for assuming its that difficult?
mountaingazelle - Oct 2, 2005 11:28 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Rating?I regret not going for the summit, but my hiking partner was going much slower than me. Dark clouds and thunder were too close for comfort so we decided that it would be safer to go down. We downclimbed a loose talus and scree chute back down to Big Basin.
No, you aren't wrong for assuming it is 4-5th class. The ridge has some 4th class scrambling and is a knife-edge in a few places but not difficult. There are two cliffbands higher up that were low 5th class. They can be avoided by moving more toward the south face though. I had never been to that area before so I got a little disoriented. I climbed up to the wrong saddle. But now I know where to go next time I go back there.
IdahoKid - Oct 3, 2005 10:37 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Rating?You were smart for turning around. The summit of Old Hyndman is quite exposed and is not easy to descend from in a hurry.
The standard route is long fun day and I highly recommend a return visit to the area. That was my first time in Big Basin but I sure hope it wasn't my last.
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